


Would you...

by Espoiretreves



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dai-nana-han | Team 7 Dynamics (Naruto), F/M, Fugaku is a tough cookie, Haruno Sakura-centric, Mikoto is the best, Multi, No Beta, No Uchiha Massacre, Non-Canon Relationship, Past Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Sasuke, Romance, Sakura is a workaholic, Sexual Content, Shisui is a playboy, Slow Burn, You Have Been Warned, but some canon relationships as well, just a minute of Sakura/Shikamaru, minor Sakura/Kiba, minor Sakura/other(s), minor Shisui/other(s), uchiha shisui-centric
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-02
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 08:07:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 43,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27347875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Espoiretreves/pseuds/Espoiretreves
Summary: Sakura has no time to date.Shisui has no restraints.An injury brought them closer and their story begins.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Shisui
Comments: 123
Kudos: 327





	1. ...be my personal medic?

It was around the middle of her night shift when the ANBU team was brought in. An ambush, just as they reached the Fire border had the three operatives bloodied and one of them half-dead in her hospital. Normally, either Tsunade-sama or Shizune would be in charge of treating the ANBU but being the Godaime’s apprentice and occasionally accompanying ANBU missions as a medic, gave Sakura the necessary clearance to take over.

She spent four hours with her hands elbow-deep in one of the ANBU’s chest, extracting poison from the other and then an additional two hours to mend skin, bones and nerves on the third operative’s right leg, making sure he’d be able to use it again after a few months of physical therapy and training.

Once again, she returned home in the early hours of the morning, as she had to check on the ANBU after they were stable and moved to their rooms on the furthest end of the west wing of the hospital, an area restricted for the Black Ops’ treatment.

The pink-haired medic had half the mind to take a shower to replace the stuffing smell of blood, sweat and antiseptic, with the sweet one of peaches and coconut, before letting her body touch her soft and oh, so comfortable bed. Her brain shutting off even before her head made contact with her pillow.

It was a miracle how she managed to wake up and then stay up when her alarm began beeping next to her. She could use an additional hour or two, to properly feel rested, alas she had yet another shift in the hospital, followed by dinner with Team 7, this time at Kakashi’s place.

Getting dressed and eating something light, advanced as always in autopilot and it wasn’t until she met with Ino at the coffee shop close to the hospital that she started feeling truly awake.

“Honestly, Forehead, you look like shit,” Ino, oh so graciously offered as they walked through the hospital doors, coffee in hand.

Sakura shot her friend a pointed glare, “Maybe you should break up with Sai, Pig. At this point I don’t know who’s worse between the two of you.”

The only response Sakura got was Ino’s pig-like snort as they moved ahead. “Seriously though, you’re overworking yourself… again.”

Sakura didn’t need to be reminded, she knew she had driven herself to endless amounts of work, yet again. “Well, I do have a couple of days off.”

“That you’re gonna fill with missions like usual?”

“Actually, no,” the pinkette paused to smile at the nurse behind the front desk, “I was thinking maybe having a girl’s day at the spa? It’s been a while.”

Ino’s eyes lit with excitement, “Now we’re talking! I’ll call Hinata and TenTen later,” she squealed, “Aaaand we’re also gonna hit a bar. You need to get laid.”

Sakura rolled her eyes, breathing a few curses out before putting on her medic’s coat, “Worry about your sex life and leave mine alone, will you?”

“Well, unlike you, my sex life actually _exists_. You need to blow off some steam. Why don’t you try going out with Sasuke-kun again? He was pretty much the only guy who could put up with you.”

_Not the Sasuke talk again…_

“Ino, Sasuke and I broke up almost two years ago. We care about each other, truly, but it just didn’t work out and I doubt it will a second time.”

Both girls sat on the desk in Sakura’s office, looking over their charts. It was quiet, aside from the rustling of pages, before Ino spoke again. 

“I know Sasuke-kun has never gotten into anything serious after you broke up and the same goes for you, Forehead.”

Green eyes met baby blue before Sakura averted her gaze on her chart, “That’s not entirely true.”

Another snort, “Come on, Yuuta-san doesn’t even count. You were with him for what? Three months and after that failed relationship I seriously don’t know if you’ve even been with anyone.”

“A couple of times, but seriously, recently I hadn’t had the time to sleep, let alone get a date.”

Ino leaned forward with her chin resting on her manicured fingers. Her smile turning into something devious, “Oh, we need to fix that then.”

* * *

Knocking twice, Sakura slowly opened the door of the room where the ANBU from the previous night rested. She did a double-take when she saw two of the three awake and conversing in hushed tones, but then again, knowing who they were, she couldn’t exactly let herself be surprised.

“Good morning,” she greeted with a smile. “How are you feeling today?” she asked the two Uchiha while standing between their beds.

Itachi, the squad captain, gave her a polite nod and sat up straight in the bed, despite the soreness from the poison extraction. Shisui on the other hand beamed at her enthusiastically, onyx eyes shining with mischief.

“Ah, Sakura-chan, I can’t feel my leg, but knowing you were the one who patched me up, I’m great!”

The kunoichi rolled her eyes at the older Uchiha, but her smile remained, “Will you ever stop flirting Shisui-san?”

Scanning the pink-haired woman in front of him from head to toe he let his dark eyes rest on her green ones, “With you? Absolutely not.”

An exasperated sigh fell from his cousin’s lips and Sakura turned her attention to the more sensible, albeit aloof patient of hers.

“Itachi-san, I will give you a quick scan and if there are no left-over traces of the poison, I will allow your release today.”

“Thank you, Sakura-san,” he said, and Sakura approached him with hands coated in green chakra. “How is Ito-san?” he asked after a while.

She quickly glanced at the still figure on the other side of the room before focusing back on Itachi’s diagnostic. “I don’t expect him to wake up for another day or two. We had to administrate heavy anesthetics, but he will eventually make a full recovery. It was fortunate you arrived when you did. Marely half an hour later and even Tsunade-shishō couldn’t have done much.”

He nodded, shoulders relaxing ever so slightly when Sakura pushed some soothing chakra inside him. His silky, long hair were out of their typical low ponytail, falling lazily around his shoulders. The Uchiha let a small sigh and leaned back more comfortably as Sakura removed her hands.

“Alright, Itachi-san, there’s nothing left. I suggest you rest for another hour here, eat something light and then you’re free to go,” she said while filling in his chart and signing his release paper. “You’ll probably feel some discomfort for a couple of days, and I would like you to refrain from training until tomorrow. Just rest for a few days and you’ll be completely fine. Also, no missions for at least a week. I will let Tsunade-sama know.”

“Of course, thank you again.”

She nodded and gave him a small genuine smile. Itachi was one of her favorite patients, well, really her favorite shinobi patient by far. He always came to the hospital when injured –unlike his younger brother –and never went against her word of no training or no missions. Always polite, yet not uptight like Hyūga Neji used to be (Sakura had snapped him out of it long ago) and he never hit on her while she was tending to his wounds –or ever, for that matter.

Sakura turned around facing the older Uchiha, a legend of his own, _Shunshin no Shisui_ and Kami he really did use the body flicker technique whenever Sakura ordered him to stay at the hospital for more than a day. He _definitely_ was not one of her favorite patients, but he wasn’t one of the worst either.

Even if he usually disappeared on her after a day or at best two, he followed her instructions for treatment and recovery. He was a flirt and really a complete playboy, but she knew that at least with her it was more on the teasing side than really trying to get in her pants. Shisui was actually really fun to be around and in moments when he’d willingly let his unmatched intelligence peak through his chirpier side, Sakura would relish in the quick-witted responses and keen conversations between them. 

“Any pain?” she asked him, hands again glowing green as she stepped closer, hovering them above his injured leg.

Shisui merely shrugged, “I’ve felt worse. Say, Sakura-chan, when can I go home?”

She took a moment to answer, eyes closed while focusing on the mending of bones and nerves she did the previous night. “You’ll have to stay at least until tomorrow, Shisui-san. I’ll give you another scan in the morning to be sure.”

Sakura straightened her back and faced him fully, arms crossed on her chest, “It will take a month for your leg to be completely healed and you’ll have to spend some weeks doing physical therapy, but I don’t see why you couldn’t do that from home.”

The man in front of her physically deflated, shoulders slumped, “Shit,” he breathed, running a hand into his already unruly hair, “I hate sitting idly by.”

“I know,” Sakura hummed taking his chart and filling it out. “And I understand, but your health comes first. You could injure yourself even worse if you were to skip rehabilitation and not to mention it’d hinder your teammates.”

The Uchiha nodded, lips drawn in a frown but not for long. Eyes lit with fire he raised his head with a cocky smirk, “Would you be my personal medic for that time, Sakura-chan?”

She rewarded him with a deadpan look and placed his chart back to its place, “I _am_ your medic Shisui-san so that means I’ll have to check on you even after you’re released from the hospital,” one look at his smug face and she quickly added with a saccharine voice, “Don’t get any ideas, unless you’d also like a castration.”

A low chuckle masked under a cough reached Sakura. “I’m happy to entertain you Itachi-san.” With one last glare to both Uchiha she moved to their teammate’s side. She had managed to stop the internal and external bleeding last night, as well as mend his ribs and lungs, but Ito Yukio was still in need of minor healings here and there.

Fifteen minutes later she was done and started moving towards the door. She hadn’t realized how two sets of eyes had been observing her closely all the while. “Well, I’ll leave you to rest,” she told them with a small smile, “Don’t cause any trouble with the nurses Shisui-san.” With that she was gone, stifling a chuckle while walking back to her office.

* * *

Heading home with Naruto’s arm draped on her shoulder’s that night, she couldn’t help but thank the universe and whatever God there was out there for her unwavering bliss.

Dinner with her boys was a weakly affair, handled either in restaurants (more often though at the old, familiar counter of Ichiraku’s Ramen), or each other’s homes. She would do most of the cooking, with Kakashi-sensei helping diligently, while Naruto would be the one responsible with adding the games for the night. Sasuke would always set the table with the same precision and Sai would help with washing the dishes. Yamato-taichou would lend a hand with the preparations and cleaning, as well and he always made sure to provide their dessert.

That night they had ordered some take-out, since both Sakura and Kakashi-sensei were spent, the former with continuous hospital work and the latter with his Hokage training from Tsunade-sama. The bickering between Sasuke and Naruto never ceased, as always and Sai’s seemingly heartless comments at that point only raised laughter, rather than irritation.

Once more Sakura came close to beating Yamato-taichou in card games –thankfully, she was way better than her shishō in that department – but he had been claimed the winner. Sakura decided she didn’t care as long as he was enjoying himself.

Squeezing Naruto’s waist, she cuddled deeper to his side, letting a content sigh. He pulled her closer, kissing the crown of her pink hair.

“You’ve been really busy, Sakura-chan,” he commented softly. An anomaly considering the blond’s loud personality and usual ringing voice.

She hummed, internally thanking him for the low tone he used, as if he did it knowing to not break the peaceful time between them. The rustling of leaves around them and the occasional conversation between people they passed were the only things interrupting the comfortable silence of the evening.

“I have been, but thankfully I took a few days off. I need some time to relax, see our friends and maybe pay a visit to my parents. With a small frown she faced up to him, “I haven’t been home in almost a month.”

He chuckled, “Hey, could you possibly ask Mebuki-kaa-chan to make some of those really nice cookies?”

Sakura nudged him playfully, “Naruto, you could always visit my parents you know. I’m sure kaa-chan and otou-chan will be happy to have you over for tea or something.”

“Maybe I’ll come with when you visit.”

The kunoichi only nodded at her teammate and the comfortable silence between them continued. She thought back to a time where neither of them would be able to keep their mouths shut for more than a minute, or two, but as years passed for them and the rest of Team 7, words felt unnecessary some times. Another content sigh. 

“Are you happy, Sakura-chan?”

She opened her mouth, ready to say _yes_ –yes, she was more than happy with her life. She was recognized as one of the strongest kunoichi, having a job at the hospital –and the field –that allowed her to mend, heal and pride herself with the thankful faces her patients wore when they’d leave her care. Sakura wanted to tell him that she was so, so happy to have amazing friends and family around her and even more so after the night she had spent with her second, makeshift family, with her teammates, her brothers in all but blood.

Sakura was ready to say yes, but something in the way he spoke made her step falter, stopping in her tracks completely and turning her full attention to the boy beside her.

“Naruto, what’s wrong?” she asked gently, yet firmly, raising her eyes to meet his clear cerulean ones.

He stood next to her, relaxed as before, but a thunderstorm passed in those blue orbs as his eyes lost their focus to somewhere far away. “I thought I was happy Sakura-chan. So, so happy when finally, people around are starting to accept me, y’ know?”

The pink-haired medic held her breath, knowing that Naruto could easily just shut himself off whatever bitterness he had decided to confide in her, joke about it and assume his cheerful self, before she could even blink.

Naruto looked at her again, lips pulled down on a frown, “Hinata-chan wanted me to meet her father. I mean I had to at some point. We’ve been dating for a year now, but –”

He paused, drawing a breath and his entire composure wilted, “He said he wouldn’t accept me as his daughter’s partner, that someone like me could never consider the possibility of actually have a future with someone like Hinata. He said I’m not good enough for her. What does that even mean?”

The blond had begun trembling with irritation, his last words coming out more as a growl. A broken, anger-filled, desperate growl.

Sakura felt her own blood boil inside her veins. This boy before her, her _brother_ , was a damn hero. He was the equivalent of sun, of warmth, of all injustice turned to smiles and hope and that fucking white eyed Hyūga had the nerve of diminishing him. Had the nerve of saying he was a man inadequate for his daughter, when all of Naruto’s soul screams of love and protection.

A small part of her heart broke, knowing that once she too saw of him as just an annoyance, someone who wasn’t worth her time. Maybe she never viewed him as a monster, like everyone else did, but there was a time she had been cruel to him. Pushed him away, due to the whispers around her and only came to the realization she knew today as a given fact, when it was too late.

But no! To hell if she’d let the stigma on him –of being a Jinchūriki, of being an orphan of no clan, of being the immature, loud child of his past –continue to exist. To hell if she’d let Hiashi-sama bring her friend to question himself or give up on his feelings for the ever lovely and accepting Hinata.

Hands shaking, reflecting her friend’s anger, she took hold of his shoulders, making him face her. “Naruto,” she started, voice low and serious, “you are more than enough for Hinata. She loves you and has loved you since we were kids. You know that. She had always been on your side and I doubt she agreed to any of those things her father said.”

With his nod, Sakura continued, “I can see how happy she makes you, how much calmer you’ve become ever since you started dating. You broke her out of her shell as well. Hinata’s so much more confident now and you’ve both helped each other grow. If Hiashi-sama doesn’t see the change in both his daughter and you then he’s the inadequate one.”

“But y’ know how uptight her clan is, Sakura-chan. Without his consent I can’t keep seeing her.” And it was how broken his words came out that had Sakura seething.

“What does he _need_? What more does he want you to do, other than make her happy?” her words laced with poison for the man so blind, crawling behind tradition and clan rituals. “Besides, when has something as petty as what someone thinks ever stopped you, huh? Are you going to break up with Hinata? You love her, so don’t tell me you’re ready to back off, because a man with a stick shoved up his ass told you to. That’s not something the Naruto I know would ever do.”

A wet smile started blossoming on his face, slowly turning into a grin, pushing his whiskered cheeks upwards, “Nah, you’re right Sakura-chan. I’d never go back on my word, dattebayo!”

“Hell no! And next time you go to talk to him, I’ll be with you. Our entire fucking team will be with you and we’ll face him together, like a family.” A genuine smile crept on her lips as she started wiping away those offending tears that had dared escape his eyes. “I’ll even bring my parents there and you know my mom will probably snap his neck if he starts saying anything bad about you again.”

A heart-wrenching sob cut the quiet of the night as Naruto slumped into Sakura’s embrace, pink hair hiding his face from the rest of the word. “Thank you,” those words kept coming out of his mouth as a mantra and Sakura wished, looking at the million stars above them with tears in her own eyes, for all the pain in the boy to vanish, maybe she could take it in herself.

She would, gladly. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello hello!!
> 
> So, I finally found the willpower to upload another WIP, this time a Shisaku one. It's both a Sakura-centric AND Shisui-centic fic, so the POV will change here and there. 
> 
> Also there will be backstories about other couples, like Naruhina, but they won't be the main focus.  
> Established relationships here are: Naruto/Hinata, Ino/Sai, Neji/TenTen, sort of Shikamaru/Temari and Itachi/Izumi. Maybe there'll be more in the future. 
> 
> Friendship and family-like bonds are a common thing in my fics, so there'll be a lot of that as well. It's a slow burn romance fic, so be patient, but some smutty scenes will probably happen before Sakura and Shisui get together. Neither of them are saints, so there'll be some sleeping around as well. 
> 
> Also, this fic like my NejiSaku one won't have a standard update schedule, because my main focus is 'Trials of change'. Anyway I hope you enjoy this :)


	2. ...help me change my shirt?

The following day Sakura was buried in the utterly boring world of paperwork. Her shift at the hospital was relatively slow, so she couldn’t pretend to not notice all the files and documents piled up in her desk.

With her chin propped inside her palm, she would glance up the clock in her small but cozy office. With every document read and every sign scribbled she’d let a sigh, hoping for something to happen just to get her out of those four white walls.

As if an answer to her prayers she picked on two familiar chakra signatures, just before a knock came on her door. Perking up she quickly called them in.

“Sasuke!” she exclaimed standing up, “Itachi-san, what’s up?”

Her ebony haired teammate let a smirk grace his beautiful features before making his way towards her, sitting at the edge of her desk. His older brother gave a polite nod and followed inside, opting to stand straight in front of her messy desk.

Sasuke’s deep voice was laced with humor when he pointed around the papers, “Still haven’t killed yourself over all these, huh?”

“Oh, shut up!” jade green met onyx, “You have no idea how boring it is. I really don’t understand how Naruto still wants to become Hokage,” she saw Sasuke’s lips pull up, “he’ll have it even worse.”

“Let the dobe find out when the time comes,” her teammate said, standing up to mirror his brother’s posture.

Fucking Uchiha genetics. No matter how close Sakura has been with Sasuke and some of his clansmen, she’d always fail to drool mentally at those features all of them shared.

“Let me guess, you’re here to take Shisui-san home?”

“Yes,” Itachi said, briefly glancing between his brother and the pink-haired medic, “Kaa-san wants our cousin to stay with us while he recuperates, since he will require help.”

Sakura nodded, a gentle smile tugging on her lips, “Ah, Mikoto-san truly is an angel. It’s a good idea, since Shisui-san’s mobility will be limited for the first couple weeks. Follow me then, I’ll sign his release papers.”

Pulling her medic coat on, she made her way towards the rooms designated for ANBU operatives, the two Uchiha brothers on either side of her, although Itachi chose to walk half a step behind her. Neither were particularly talkative by nature, but Sakura coaxed some pleasantries from Itachi and idle chit-chat with Sasuke came easily.

Her teammate and once upon a time crush –and boyfriend –surprised her when he informed her of Naruto’s visit that morning to ask him to accompany him to the Hyūga household sometime next week.

“The dobe said it was your idea and he’d ask Kakashi, Sai and Yamato as well.”

Sakura hummed, losing her mind in her thoughts for a few seconds, then, “Do you think it’ll make things worse if we all show up there?”

“No,” Sasuke replied instantly, “it could work in the scheme of clan’s politics. He may not have any of our last names, but we’re the closest thing to a family he has.”

With a glint in her eyes she turned to fully face him, “I promised that my parents will also be with us.”

“Ah,” the corners of Sasuke’s mouth twitched with amusement, “I’ll make sure to let everyone know to bring snacks for when Mebuki-san breaks Hiashi-sama’s face.”

Try as she might, Sakura couldn’t hold the bubbly chuckle rising from her chest. Unknown to her, the male walking half a step behind them had also been smiling softly at the sight of his brother making jokes and behaving so carefree while in public.

* * *

Another move of the clock’s hands. Another drumming of fingers on top of the white sheets covering his lower body, except from his cast leg.

Shisui let out a deep sigh, hand raking his wild ebony locks as his eyes flicked from the clock on the wall to his still unconscious teammate. The previous night, after Itachi’s departure, he had not only been bored out of his mind, but kept on tossing around and unable to sleep, as guilt rose and bloomed once more inside his chest.

It had been a stupid mistake. A rookie mistake, really, to take the rogue ninjas they were sent to eliminate so lightly. Sure, Itachi was a genius, one of the best ANBU captains to _ever_ exist, Yukio was on his own not only strong but a great strategist and he himself had been labeled as a legend. He scoffed, _yeah, fucking legend._

They had a mission, a simple one really, observe the movement of a group of rogue shinobi and eliminate the threat. How on earth could they be so stupid to think that they wouldn’t have more members in their ranks?

After successfully slaughtering –because it truly was a slaughter –the main 6 members, the ones they had intel on, they simply let their guard down. Even Itachi.

Stupid, fucking arrogance of three shinobi with more than a decade of experience. They should have known better, but they had been tired, exhausted actually, already beaten from the encounter and they failed to notice the ambush laid before them.

Turns out they weren’t only 6 members, but 11, divided into 2 groups, doing their ‘businesses’ in different locations.

All night long Shisui’s mind kept racing back to the trap they failed to notice. The trap that had one of his comrades lying in a pool of blood, with his entire torso basically torn apart and bones broken. A small consolation to his failure –because he blamed himself most, being the most experienced of the three –was the fact that he had saved his little cousin Itachi from the explosive traps well hidden under the forest floor. 

The great legend of Shunshin no Shisui, the master of the body flicker technique, the man whose speed came behind only to the likes of the Second and Fourth Hokage, was simply _not fast enough_ to avoid the blast himself. Yes, he had saved his cousin from certain death but had blown his leg in pieces.

And then his little shimmer of pride in saving Itachi came crashing down, for he was raided with thousands of poisoned senbon and kunai. As much of a genius Itachi may be, he couldn’t deflect them all. Frankly, if it weren’t for other ANBU squads patrolling the borders, their assailants would still be alive and he and his teammates dead.

Well, if it weren’t for the pink-haired medic –his baby cousin’s teammate, the girl he remembered meeting when she was just a green genin and pathetically chasing after Sasuke-chan, the woman he loved to tease just to see her cheeks flush red either with embarrassment, or anger, the kunoichi with the smallest hands, capable to both break down mountains and heal the most impossible of injuries –they’d probably be dead anyway.

Another sigh as he tore his eyes from the old clock, focusing instead on the window on the other side of the room. It was already afternoon, the sun about to set in an hour, or two and the sky was painted in deep oranges, yellows and purples. A crow was sitting just outside, lazily gazing down on the streets. It was an all too familiar sight to him, even if the bird wasn’t one of his summons.

He let his head drop down on the thin hospital pillow, a groan threatening to leave his lips, but he wouldn’t let it. Not before he was out of there. Shisui was never a fan of hospitals. Surely, he would come when injured, but hated staying overnight. There was something in those florescent lights, the painfully white walls and sheets and the lingering scent of antiseptic, that made him go crazy.

Footsteps and low voices came from the corridor outside his room and he quickly sat up, putting on a damn smile because that was what the fool always did. There was a soft knock and the door opened to reveal his two baby cousins and his favorite medic.

Shisui wanted to laugh at the sight. There was such a contrast there, it was almost painful to his eyes. Sakura, graced by birth with not only the name, but the colors of spring, so bright and well, _colorful_ , stood between two men, pale in complexion but otherwise dark from head to toe.

“Finally!” he exclaimed with half-faked enthusiasm.

The three walked further inside the room, the medic immediately catching his chart in her hands –hands so strong, yet so unbelievable gentle –while his kinsmen circled his bed.

“How are you today Shisui-san? Shizune-senpai told me you had trouble sleeping,” the girl –no, _woman_ , leaned forwards, pale pink eyebrows pinched over green, green eyes. “Was your leg giving you any trouble? I was sure to numb the pain.”

The oldest of the three Uchiha in the room shook his head, eyes trailing his cast before meeting hers again, “Don’t worry Sakura-chan, you did a great job as always. It’s just, those pillows. They’re quite uncomfortable.”

He was bullshiting her of course, but he wouldn’t talk about his mind literally screaming to him all night about how badly he had fucked up. A brief glance on Itachi and he knew his cousin wasn’t fooled, yet he didn’t expect him to be.

“Ah, I see.”

Shisui felt his breath trapped in his lungs. The girl, no, the woman of pink and green and red gave him a look that clearly indicating that she knew exactly what had kept him awake. It was in the way her expression became even gentler than before, her lips curling to a sad smile and her wide jade orbs reflected understanding and worry, the same emotions that had laced her voice.

Maybe it was his imagination though, for when she spoke again her words were crisp and to the point, “Alright, Shisui-san, your cousins are here to see you home. I’ll be coming to examine your leg every few days, but please, if you feel any discomfort, send word immediately.”

She paused, signing what Shisui assumed were his discharge papers and then looked up again, “Even though I mend the bone it’s going to be a while until it’s fully healed and I’m concerned about the nerves on your leg, but we’ll work on that.”

Shisui could only nod and mumble a faint _thank you_ , immediately punching himself mentally. Uchiha Shisui was supposed to be jolly and carefree. A grin slipped on his face, practiced and looking just as good as a genuine one.

Ah, Itachi noticed and something whispered to him that Sakura did too. With that ex-ROOT teammate of hers of course she’d know, Sasuke would too.

“You’re lucky,” she said, “Your leg was broken and torn, but thankfully not blown up and you escaped amputation. Be more careful out there, okay?”

“Anything to make you happy, Sakura-chan,” he chirped, earning an eye roll from Sasuke, an exasperated sigh from Itachi and a deadpan look from the medic-nin. Chuckling in real humor this time he continued, “Would you help me change my shirt Sakura-chan?”

“I don’t get why you just don’t report him at this point,” his youngest cousin scorned, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Oh, come on Sasuke-chan!”

“Shisui, that’s enough,” Itachi sounded tired, but the pointed look he sent his way was sharp as ever. “Thank you Sakura-san and I apologize for my cousin’s antics.”

“It’s fine,” she waved her hand around, “Believe it, or not, I’ve heard way worse. But,” Sakura stared at the bed-ridden Uchiha once more, “eventually you should lay off with your jokes.”

A fine dark eyebrow rose, onyx eyes staring into endless green, “Who says I’m joking?”

“Just shut up,” Sasuke groaned out. “Sorry Sakura, I’ll deal with him when we get home. You go have fun with the rest of your paperwork.”

“Jackass,” she hissed, playfully punching her teammates shoulder. “Anyway, Shisui-san, I’ll see you in a couple of days. Itachi-san,” she nodded towards the Uchiha who politely mirrored her, “See you tomorrow at the training grounds,” she directed to the youngest, who grunted something incoherent and made her way out of the room.

The two brothers stared down at their cousin, but he couldn’t be bothered. He just wanted to go home. He told them so and after helping him get up and use his crunches. Shisui spared one last look at his third teammate, mentally promising to come see him when he’d regain consciousness.

* * *

Haruno Sakura, 20-year-old jōnin and medic-nin, could not remember the last time she had slept for full 8 hours in the past year – or was it two?

Her morning started early, as always, but she felt rejuvenated. Humming a tune she remembered from her mother, she prepared a hearty breakfast of omurice, steamed broccoli and boiled sausage. She opted for tea, rather than coffee as she always did on her more leisure days and made her way to the training grounds to meet with the rest of Team Kakashi, with stacked bento boxes in her hands.

They sparred, rolled around the grass, laughing and bickering like normal and had their early lunch while the sun was still high on the cloudless sky. Shikamaru would probably have a fit from the lack of the fluffy whites against the endless blue.

“Should we spar again?” Sai had asked after they ate and Kakashi along with Yamato bid the younger members of the team goodbye.

Sasuke and Naruto jumped right up, energized enough for more physical exercise. Sakura had to decline, though, “Sorry boys, but I have plans with Ino, Hinata and TenTen.”

She too left them with quick but tight hugs, strapping on her backpack, where a change of civilian clothes was tucked in and began her way towards the bathhouse.

The first there was TenTen, who had obviously just come from a training session herself.

“Neji has a day off and Lee woke us at dawn to go train and spar, like old times,” she informed Sakura with fatigue oozing from every word. The pinkette though picked up on the affectionate tone under the vexation.

Team Gai, as well as the rest of the Rookie 9 teams had not only maintained the bonds that had formed during their genin days, but their friendship and camaraderie had blossomed to be envied in and out of Konohagakure. The Konoha 12, –13, since the addition of Sai on Team 7, was a force to be reckoned with. Missions where old teams came together, or even when they all joined, had an unbeatable success rate.

Theirs was a generation of bonds, of teams turning to families and Kami save the poor soul who would dare to wrong one of the 13. It wasn’t easy to forge these friendships amongst so different individuals, but hardships and missions gone wrong pushed them all to do better, learn to trust each other, understand their comrades in a level as deep as one understands and knows their own selves. 

Hinata showed up only a few minutes later and Ino right after the Hyūga princess. “Let’s go clean ourselves and relax, ladies! We’re going shopping after this.”

A shy smile from Hinata, a groan from TenTen and an eye roll from Sakura didn’t stop Ino from dragging them inside the luxurious bathhouse, with all the comforts of a modern spa.

The four kunoichi made their way to remove their clothes and then straight to the showers, cleaning themselves with cotton washcloths and lightly scented, floral soaps. They chose to relax in one of the smaller onsen outdoors, big enough for maybe 5 persons, for some privacy.

The blonde provided her friends with the latest gossip whirling around Konoha and gushed over every single detail about her relationship with Sai. Sakura had been slightly confused when the two had started dating but had long come to realize that they made a great pair. Ino had learned to be more patient and Sai had started to experience and show real emotions, his girlfriend greatly helping him to escape from his brainwashed past.

After some coaxing and teasing, TenTen reluctantly revealed more about her relationship with Neji, like how sweet and caring he was and how their latest date turned out. Their relationship was kept well under wraps, both afraid to face the Hyūga Head and Elders just yet. Neji, even though a branch member, had expectations to fulfill as he had told them. The only people who knew, were the rest of Konoha 13 and their senseis, all of them helping the couple with their secret affair.

“Hinata-chan, please excuse me for what I’m going to say, but could your father remove the stick off his ass?” Sakura commended with poorly hidden disdain after TenTen explained that Hiashi-sama had talked with Neji about a possible arranged marriage.

The Hyūga princess didn’t seem offended, “I wish he would, Sakura, but it’s not just him. The Clan often pushes him to the limit, and he is a prideful man that cares about his family’s honor.”

“I don’t find anything dishonorable in Neji’s relationship with TenTen, nor yours with Naruto. They’re based in love and mutual respect and that’s way more honorable than any arranged union could ever be.”

“I do agree with you,” a long sigh escaped Hinata’s lips, her milky eyes opening to focus on Sakura’s with an apology, “I assume Naruto-kun told you about my father’s cruel words.”

The pinkette took a breath, trying to ease her annoyance over the matter she had discussed with her blond teammate. “Yes,” she finally said.

“What happened? What do you mean _cruel_ words?” Ino asked with furrowed brows. TenTen too turned from Sakura to Hinata with curiosity and worry.

Hinata’s head lowered unable to look at her friends, voice laced with shame, “Naruto-kun met with my father, expressing his honest affection towards me and seeking his blessing.” Fists clenched under the water’s surface, “My father in turn expressed his disapproval and refused to accept our relationship.”

“What?!” the blonde seethed. “You can’t be serious!”

“I am, unfortunately.”

The brunette scoffed, warm chocolate eyes landing on her lover’s cousin, “Hiashi-sama is truly obnoxious and stuck-up.”

The daughter of said man nodded in agreement, “He may be my father, but I am more hurt and disappointed than ever in my life. I have given my position as heiress to my younger sister without as much as a word. She does deserve it after all, but giving up on Naruto-kun…”

“You won’t, because he’ll never give up on you either,” Sakura cut her off with conviction. “Naruto loves you and will never agree to give up on your relationship. We will arrange another meeting with your father, where our team and my parents will be present as Naruto’s family.”

The three girls fell silent at the pinkette’s words. Sakura in the absence of reply, continued, “I’d really like to see your father try to take on all of us.” 

TenTen laughed at the last comment, while Hinata gave Sakura a smile full of gratitude. “So, your mother’s gonna kick some ass, huh?” Ino smirked, before a loud round of laughter rang throughout the bathhouse.


	3. ...heal me?

Shisui woke up panting. Images of his comrade being ruthlessly attacked, and his younger cousin being pierced with poisoned senbon turned his dreams to nightmares. It was the reality though. Their team had almost been killed off.

The remembrance of his own injury, the excruciating pain he felt when the explosives blew up and tore up his left leg, had bile rising in his throat.

Shisui was no stranger to pain, to injuries and close to death experiences, but the latest one was plaguing him still. Well, all of them still did. He had fought during the 3rd Shinobi War after all when he was nothing but a child.

He shook his head as to get rid of his thoughts and bury his memories back inside the darkest corner of his mind. A look out of the window confirmed the early hours of the day.

“Fucking cast,” he mumbled, pushing his fingers through his unruly hair. Even though he had his fair share of injuries in the past, he couldn’t feel any less annoyed with the fact that he couldn’t move freely. He felt useless.

Pushing himself up, he grabbed the clutches from beside his bed and slowly began to raise himself. Another sigh escaped his lips when he began moving towards the room’s door. It wasn’t his room, yet he always slept in that one when visiting his cousin’s house. His aunt Mikoto even told him to decorate it however he liked, but aside from his weapons, some clothes and necessities, it remained bare.

Descending the stairs proved to be difficult without any help, but he bit his lip and ignored the small waves of pain coming from his leg.

“Shisui-kun,” he heard his aunt call him and his eyes immediately found hers, “I could have brought you breakfast in your room. You shouldn’t be moving around.”

His lips stretched into a smile. Mikoto always worried too much about him and treated him like a son. It’s nice to have someone to take care of you, he mused. Having lost both parents in the last war, Shisui knew well how to fend for himself, but having someone to rely on from time to time felt like a blessing.

“Ah, it’s alright Oba-san. I wanted to stretch a bit and I can’t really stay in the room all day, can I?”

Mikoto gave him a warm smile, long dark locks of hair bounced behind her as she came towards him, “You’re right, but try to take it easy.”

He hummed and made his way in the kitchen with her hand supporting his back. “Should I help with anything?”

“Just sit,” she commanded and went back to cutting a red plump tomato, probably for Sasuke’s sake.

Soon enough the table was full and Itachi joined them, helping his mother with placing utensils and filling out cups with green tea. Sasuke soon descended from his room, hair wet, but eyes still half-way shut.

“You don’t look that good, otouto. Didn’t you sleep well?” Itachi inquired, offering his brother a steaming cup.

“Hn.”

Shisui rolled his eyes to his youngest cousin’s caveman grunt. “Speak like normal people do, Sasuke-chan.”

Sasuke gave him a heated glare, but the action clearly hurt for he started rubbing his temples. “Naruto and Kiba took us to the bar and made a stupid bet about who could drink more, or something like that.”

“Really?” Shisui shared an amused glance with Itachi, “And who won this little challenge?”

His cousin smirked and took a sip from his tea, “Sakura.”

“Sakura-san?” Itachi inquired and if his face didn’t come in a default blank setting, his eyes would be gauged out just like Shisui’s.

Sasuke merely nodded, “She had about 5 bottles of sake alone and two dozen shots of what the guys and I were drowning down.”

Shisui blinked a few times, unable to comprehend Sasuke’s words. Sure, he had been around his cousin’s teammates and friends in the bar and even a few jōnin parties, so he knew the pink-haired kunoichi could hold her liquor, but that seemed a bit…

“So, she _has_ picked on Tsunade-sama’s habits.”

Oh, of course. Itachi was right. It made sense, Sakura –the cute, little Sakura they once knew –had been the Hokage’s student ever since she was 13, so of course she’d turn out a heavy drinker.

“I honestly don’t remember Sakura-chan ever being drunk. How did she fare last night?” Shisui was genuinely curious. “That’s a lot of alcohol.”

The youngest Uchiha hummed, setting his cup down on the wooden table. “Hn. She only gets drunk when she wants to. Last night she got just a little buzzed. Enough to dance with her friends and flirt around, I guess,” he shrugged and passed an arm around the chair, leaning back, “Why?”

Itachi too turned to observe their cousin. Shisui sighed. He was only curious, but his baby cousins had to pry for _something_.

“Just wondering,” he said easily. “Don’t you care, though?” it was his time to probe.

Sasuke arched an eyebrow, clearly not getting the hint. Itachi who had already figured out where this was going, sat back, amusement lit up his eyes as he observed his younger brother.

“I mean, you guys were dating, right? Don’t you care if she’s flirting with other men?”

Sasuke gave an exasperated sigh and glared at his cousin, “I _worry_ because I don’t want to see her hurt, but no, I don’t care because we were together. She’s my teammate, one of my best friends. That’s all.”

“Is that so?” His brother asked, hiding the tilt of his mouth behind his steaming cup of tea.

The glare shifted to him, “Yes, nii-san. There are no longer any romantic feelings between us. We’re friends.”

“Yes, yes,” Shisui smirked, “but neither of you had any serious relationships after you broke up, from what I’ve head at least.”

“So?”

“Oh, I don’t know. It seems there’s still something there.”

“I do hope so!” Mikoto, who had obviously been eavesdropping, piped in. “I’ve always wanted Sakura-chan in the family.”

Her youngest son groaned, rolling his eyes, “Kaa-san…”

“Oh, don’t worry Mikoto-oba-san!” Shisui grinned at her, “If Sasuke-chan is certain there are no longer any lingering feelings, _I_ will do my best to bring her into the family.” Onyx clashed with onyx, “You wouldn’t mind, cousin, would you?”

Sasuke’s smirk was more sadistic than amused. “She’ll wipe the floors of her hospital with your pretty face, _cousin_.”

Laughter filled the Uchiha’s kitchen, but immediately died down when the Clan Head, Fugaku, entered, taking his seat with nothing more but a nod towards his sons and nephew.

* * *

Green eyes stared back blankly to their reflection. A tear threatened to fall, but of course, Sakura held it back. She was no longer 12. Her gaze slid down once more. The blood covering her hands reached all the way to her elbows. She scrubbed more fiercely, until her arms turned raw and the back of her hands split.

Going back to her office, she let her hair fall out of her ponytail, sighing in relief. She had paperwork to complete, but didn’t care enough to, so she pushed it all away, opting instead of studying a medical journal Yamato had given her for her birthday.

Pink strands of hair fell over the pages, as her eyes scanned each word and sentence, while a small voice in her mind was wondering what she was still doing in the hospital. Technically, it was still her last day off and she only came in because a long-term patient of hers was having an emergency.

Before she had any time to come to a decision of either staying and taking a full shift, or going home, a knock on her office door snapped her out of her musing.

“Come in,” she called, her voice softer than she’d like.

In walked a man, clad in the green jōnin vest. His dark hair was pulled back in a spiked ponytail and he was wearing an exhausted expression.

“Oh, Shikamaru. What’s up?”

The young Nara walked with slow steps and all but collapsed in the chair in front of the medic’s desk.

“You look like shit,” Sakura bluntly told him, and he grunted something under his breath. “Still hangover from last night?”

He shook his head, rubbing his face before turning his eyes to her. “I was in a two-hour meeting with the Hokage and the Council.”

Sakura winced and shot him an understanding look. Tsunade would probably be in the same state, no question shooting back bottle after bottle of sake.

“I’m leaving for Suna next week with Kakashi. Diplomatic mission and then we’re to escort the Kazekage and his siblings to Konoha.”

The kunoichi perked up, “Really? That’s great! It’s been a while since I’ve seen Gaara, Temari and Kankuro-san.”

Shikamaru mumbled a faint ‘troublesome’ under his breath and continued, “Anyway, Tsunade-sama wanted me to bring you this,” he said pulling out a scroll and handing it to Sakura.

“Ah, it must be some documents I asked for,” Sakura mumbled taking the scroll and pouring some of her chakra to unseal it.

“Do I want to know?”

She gave him a small smile, “I couldn’t really tell you.”

He nodded, stretching his body to stand up. “Hey,” he called, pausing to study his comrade’s face. “Are you –is everything okay?”

“Yeah.”

“Sakura.”

Who was she kidding? Nara Shikamaru was not only a good friend of hers, but his mind worked faster than the speed of light. The pink-haired medic immediately let her façade fall, gazing ahead of the man before answering.

“I lost an 8-year old patient of mine today, I have been treating her for the past three years. She had severe blood clotting and artery blockage and today she just started bleeding out. I was at home when they called me and I just…”

Several beats passed, with Sakura still looking faraway, while Shikamaru came to stand closer to her desk.

“Sakura,” he said after a while, waiting for her to focus back on him. “Listen, you’re one of the best medics in the Land of Fire,” he shook his head, “Scratch that, you’re the one of the best medics in the world, but still you cannot save everyone. Don’t bring yourself down because you think you weren’t fast enough, or prepared enough, or whatever. You did your best and that’s all that matters.”

The part of Sakura who had promised to never cry again was starting to crack. Sakura was a medic and the little girl –Ai-chan –wasn’t the first patient she lost, whether in the hospital, or in a mission, but the fragility of the case and the familiarity with her patient and her family were the reasons she felt such grief. But Shikamaru was right. She couldn’t save everyone. She always knew that.

“Thank you, Shika,” she gave him a watery, yet genuine smile and he responded with a small smile himself. “Have fun in Suna and _please_ keep an eye on Kakashi-sensei.”

He huffed and turned around, waving his hand, “Go home, Sakura. It’s still your day off.”

Sakura let out a short chuckle and started picking her things up, including the storage scroll from the Hokage. Before going home, she decided to visit the Uchiha compound, in order to check on Shisui, thinking she’d be busy the following day. After all, she didn’t even glace upon her paperwork and with the demanding shift she’d have …

The marketplace was buzzing with life. It was still early in the afternoon, so civilians were walking around, going from shop to shop, chatting on the street and kids were running around, pretending to be shinobi.

She decided to pick a bottle of umeshu and some dango to bring over. It had been a while she’d visited her teammate’s household, since the past few times Sasuke was to hold their team’s dinner, he opted to treating them in restaurants.

_Things with his father mustn’t been too well then._

The Uchiha compound was busy, like always. Their own shops full, mostly with shinobi and of course dark-haired and dark-eyed Uchiha. Sakura made a quick stop when she noticed Izumi, Itachi’s fiancée, to exchange some pleasantries before making her way straight to the clan Head’s house.

People in the Uchiha district were used to seeing her around since she was a genin, but the contrast between her colorful appearance and theirs always drew eyes on her person.

Sakura had a feeling she wasn’t well liked by many Uchiha, but since she had ties with the Head family, the majority treated her politely. Another reason could be the fact that she was the Hokage’s beloved apprentice. Not many people in the Hidden Leaf Village would dare to defy her, unless they were ready to face her chakra infused fists, or the Hokage’s wrath.

Whether that was the reason for their disapproval, or respect, she didn’t know.

Mikoto was delighted to see her, immediately engulfing her in a tight hug and ushering her inside the house. They made a beeline for the kitchen to deposit the gifts Sakura brought them, before Mikoto all but screamed for her family to gather in the living room.

“Let me put those in a plate,” the Uchiha matriarch chirped, taking the dango out of the medic’s hands.

Sakura smiled, “I’ll bring glasses out for the umeshu.”

Mikoto hummed, “You know where everything is.”

As Sakura was bringing some glasses and the bottle of liquor outside, she felt all too familiar chakra coming downstairs before the spiked head of her teammate came to view.

“What are you doing here?” Sasuke asked, with a scowl.

Sakura gave him a questioning look, but in the end, she just rolled her eyes, “I’m here for Shisui’s checkup. Now go make yourself useful and bring out the rest of the glasses,” a little lower she asked, “Is your father home?”

She got her answer when his scowl deepened and gave him an understanding smile before he vanished in the kitchen. Soon both he and his mother joined their guest in the living room, arranging the plates and glasses for 6 people.

“Ah, Sakura-san,” came the low baritone of Itachi’s voice and she turned around to see both him and an overly excited Shisui making their way towards them.

“Sakura-chan!” Shisui called, “Couldn’t stay away from me, could you?”

“Shisui-san, Itachi-san, it’s nice to see you,” she ignored Shisui’s teasing question and took her seat next to Sasuke, on the low table. 

“You brought dango, Sakura-san?” Itachi asked lowering himself after helping his cousin, who had some trouble due to his cast leg.

Itachi was always so aloof that Sakura found it difficult to interact with him, but their mutual love for dango was their common ground. He had even accompanied her –sometimes with his fiancée as well –when she’d go to their favorite dango shop.

“Of course. They’re still warm.” He needed not told twice, for he scooped one stick, quickly munching the sweet delight.

Sakura stifled a chuckled and started pouring the liquor into everyone’s glasses, just as the Uchiha patriarch showed up in the living room. Immediately the mood turned sour around her, but she held her smiled, “Fugaku-sama,” she gave a respectful nod, “would you like some umeshu?”

“Thank you, Sakura-san,” he gruffly replied, sitting beside his wife, who gave him a fond look. “To what do we owe the visit?”

Sakura sat back straight after pouring his drink and met his gaze, “I thought about checking on Shisui-san today, since I’ll probably be busy the next few days. I hope I am not intruding.”

“Nonsense,” Mikoto was fast to speak, “You’re always welcomed here, dear. Not just when someone needs your medic skills.”

“You’re wasting your day off,” Sasuke told her, not even acknowledging his father’s presence in the table.

She nudged him playfully, before picking her glass, “It was already wasted. I had to go back to the hospital. There was an emergency.”

“Oh, I hope not another ambush,” Mikoto said, with a fleeting look to her oldest son and nephew.

“Nothing like that. Just a long-term patient of mine.”

Sasuke turned his entire body to face her, “Ai-chan?”

“Yeah,” she replied, eyes downcast.

She felt her teammate’s shoulder leaning on her side, a small comforting touch they’d share since they became part of Team 7, since he never was one for extensive physical displays of affection.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. His words were genuine, laced with apology and grief. Sasuke had met the girl on multiple occasions and he also knew how Sakura had bonded with the child.

She put some weight to his side, letting him know that she was grateful for his support and comfort. Not wanting to sink the mood even further, Sakura put on a smile and turned towards Shisui.

“So, how do you feel? Any pain?”

The Uchiha didn’t reply immediately, giving her a long stare, but eventually let out a sigh, “Not much. Say, Sakura-chan, couldn’t you just entirely heal my leg so I can at least walk properly?”

Sakura hummed, part amused and part annoyed. “I could and I would, but it’s always best to leave bones heal naturally. I have already aligned the broken parts and sped the mending process, but I’ll do nothing more.”

“But Sakura-chan…”

She put a hand up, efficiently silencing him. “Not happening, Shisui-san. I honestly won’t be working much on your bone, rather the injured nerves.” Sakura leveled him with a sharp stare, “I told you already that you are lucky to not have lost your entire leg, or total mobility of it.”

Fugaku scowled at the words, gaze fixed on his nephew before flicking to his oldest son. “You could have lost the ability to perform as shinobi without proper use of your leg and not to mention getting poisoned so easily.” He shook his head, drinking more from his glass.

“I assure you, Fugaku-sama,” Sakura said sweetly, unafraid to meet his sharp eyes yet once more, “it could happen to the best and seeing how they are the best, only proves my words.”

Sakura ignored Sasuke’s light nudge, clearly telling her to back off and kept her stance.

“The best, Sakura-san, wouldn’t fall for such a stunt.”

The pink-haired medic casually sipped from her glass, pretending not to notice the uneasy glances everyone sent her way. “With all due respect, I will have to disagree. Being the best doesn’t make anyone less of a human. There will always be something, or someone not accounted for, so the possibility of injuries is simply inevitable.”

“You’re right, Sakura-san,” Itachi was fast to speak, before his father could, “but we’ll have to be more careful.”

“Please do,” she answered with a gentle smile, “I really don’t like seeing friends and acquaintances in my hospital, unless of course, it’s my lunch break and they bring food.”

With those words the mood lifted slightly, earning soft giggles from Mikoto and Shisui and even and upturn of the lips from the two brothers. Sakura pretended not to notice the Uchiha patriarch’s scowl.

They ate their dango and drank the umeshu with the two women animatedly talking to each other, before Sakura offered to take a look at Shisui’s leg.

They moved a bit further away, but still remained in the living room. The medic was aware of the stares to the back of her head, but kept her eyes closed, concentrating on the nerve and muscle system on her fellow shinobi’s leg.

The soft green light of her chakra never once flickered out, as she run her hands over the area of his injury. It wasn’t long before she felt Shisui moving and she opened her eyes.

“Does it hurt?” she was curious, but she only came to a sight of him resting a lot more snuggly on the pillows he was prompted on.

He gave her a lazy smile, eyes closing in content, “No, it’s quite pleasant actually.”

Sakura quirked her fine pink eyebrow, “I’m reconstructing your nerve and muscle system. It should be a little uncomfortable.”

“Nope,” he hummed, letting a sigh fall from his lips. “Your chakra is so soothing, Sakura, I doubt your healing could ever be anything but comfortable.”

If Sakura was any other person –or her 12 year old self again –she’d be blushing furiously, not only from his compliment, or the fact that he’d just so casually said that in a room full of his relatives, but he’d called her _Sakura_.

Shisui had never called her by just her name. He always added _–chan_ since she was a genin and continued to do so in order to tease her.

Shushing her thoughts, she simply cleared her throat and smiled politely, “Well, I’m glad you think so.” Once again closing her eyes, she spent almost 20 minutes healing whatever she could.

When her hands stopped glowing, she stood up, easing her muscles from her kneeling position and offered a hand to Shisui. Sakura almost rolled her eyes at the soft yelp he gave out when she literally picked him up and straightened him in a standing position. Behind her Sasuke smirked amused.

Giving him his clutches, she started talking, “Our sessions will be about 30 minutes long. I could probably heal everything in one go, but I think it’s better this way. Besides if your muscles and nerves are all healed up, I’m pretty sure you’d just start using your leg and your bones wouldn’t heal like they should.”

He pouted, “Oh, I’d never do that, Sakura-chan.”

“Uh-huh,” she replied unconvinced. “I’ll be back in a couple of days. Please, _please_ , rest as much as you can.”

Shisui huffed softly but promised her that he would. Even though she knew he wouldn’t, she chose not to drag her concerns.

“Naruto’s coming over to spar. You staying?” her teammate asked as soon as she took her previous seat beside him.

Sakura gave him a smirk, “Oh, I wasn’t aware you wanted to rearrange the Uchiha training grounds.”

He offered her his own, “Come on, each for themselves.”

“Sure,” she didn’t really have to think about it. “Sai’s not coming?”

“Date with the Yamanaka girl,” he grumbled out, shaking his head.

His green-eyed teammate gave him an unimpressed stare, “Ino. Her name’s Ino, you ass. Seriously, we’ve been classmates and friends since like forever.”

“Hn. You call her _pig_ , anyway.”

“Tch, she’s my best friend, so I have the right. I’m so gonna smash your pretty little face later. Shannaro!”

With a flick on her forehead he stood up, “You can try.” With a nod towards his family he left the room to go Kami knows where.

“He’s acting like a child,” Sakura heard the disapproving tone on his father’s voice.

Her eye twitched. ‘ _Keep your mouth shut, Sakura. Don’t speak, don’t speak.’_

Mikoto gently placed her hand on his arm, “Let him enjoy his time with his friends, darling. He’s still young.”

Sakura could never quite understand how a woman like Mikoto seemed to love a man like Fugaku so unconditionally. Sure, both his sons were usually silent like him and to an extent, emotionally stunned, but they weren’t as stuck up. Maybe it’s a Head of a Clan thing, she mused, remembering Hyūga Hiashi. But then again, she was well acquainted with Ino’s and Shikamaru’s fathers and they were a far cry from that. 

Her time as Sasuke’s girlfriend made her realize how his inability to express emotions came from his father. Although he wasn’t so bad. Not with her, anyway. Maybe Fugaku was also a lot more expressive with his wife, away from other people’s eyes, like Sasuke had been with her?

Sakura hoped so. She loved Mikoto and was always grateful for her support all these years. She never once made Sakura feel uncomfortable in her house, either for being a civilian-born shinobi, or when she was dating her son.

Uncomfortable silence settled between them all and the only thing they could do was sip from their glasses. Fortunately, Sasuke returned swiftly, dressed in his training clothes and gear.

He looked pointedly at his teammate, “Go change in my room and let’s go.”

She needed not be told twice. Sakura quickly scrammed to her feet and almost ran towards Sasuke’s room in order to avoid the tense atmosphere. From the corner of her eye she saw Fugaku-sama also leaving his family to head to his office.

When she reached Sasuke’s room she looked around briefly. It had been months since the last time she’d visited but it was almost as bare as she remembered. The decorative daisho of an ornate katana and wakizashi, Kakashi-sensei had gifted him last year, was still over his bed and some pictures were hanging neatly on his wall across the window.

The first was a picture of him as a young boy and the rest of his family. Next to it were the pictures of Team 7; the original and the one they took last year including Sai and Yamato-taichou. There was even one with just Sasuke and Naruto and another of Sakura and him from their first festival they attended as a couple, taken by Ino. Sakura was holding cotton-candy, just a shade lighter than her hair and Sasuke wore a small, yet fond smile as he watched her eating with the enthusiasm of a kid.

She had the same one on her bookcase as well.

Moving towards his dresser she immediately opened the third drawer and grabbed a red shirt and black spandex that reached a little over her knees. Sakura kept a few spare clothes over all her teammates’ houses, as they often opted for training when they’d gather together. She herself had devoted an entire side of her own closet for her boys’ clothes –more often than not, she’d wear them as pajamas, though.

She skipped the stairs as she went downstairs and informed Sasuke that she was ready to go. Itachi and Shisui rose with him and told her they’d like to come along and watch their spar.

Now, Sakura had come a long way and wasn’t particularly self-conscious about her abilities, but having Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Shisui observing, somehow unnerved her.

Sasuke picking up on her silent discomfort, put a hand on her head, before turning around to exit the house. She made to follow him, just as Mikoto came closer changed to a different outfit herself.

“I’ll be going to Izumi-chan’s house to talk about some details for the wedding,” she smiled, mainly towards her older son. “You kids have fun and give Naruto-kun my love.”

Sakura was suddenly engulfed into a tight hug, “Come to visit again soon, dear. I missed having you around,” she Uchiha matriarch sighed and pulled away.

Green eyes softened as she gave a little giggle, “I’ll be here in a couple days anyway, Mikoto-san, but I promise I’ll keep visiting more often. I’ve missed you too.”

“Yes, yes, if you two are done, we have to go train,” Sasuke let a tired breath and pulled the pink-haired medic out of the house. Faintly they could hear his mother grumbling.

Sakura merely chuckled and followed Sasuke, while Itachi kept close to Shisui.


	4. ...like to feel my punch?

The two teammates started stretching and engaged in a short taijutsu fight, with mainly light hits and blocking, while waiting for their loudmouth friend. The older Uchiha were sitting under a tree a few feet away from the clear area of the training grounds and so far, Sakura wasn’t paying too much attention to them.

“Seriously, I still can’t get used to it,” she told her teammate, who raised a dark eyebrow to prompt her to continue, while blocking one of her sideway kicks. Sakura stepped to the right in order to avoid a well-aimed punch and delivered one of her own in his ribcage. “I mean the fact that you’ve got your own training grounds.”

Sasuke’s foot connected with her left thigh and the pink-haired girl dropped on the ground to kick his feet. Her teammate jumped a couple feet back and took a defensive position.

“It’s not _mine_. There are just a few of the Uchiha training grounds that are mainly used by the Head family. The Hyūga and other clans have the same rules,” he explained before vanishing from sight to appear behind her.

Expecting this, Sakura twirled gracefully and pumping some chakra to her fists, went for his stomach. He avoided the attack and jumped high, taking out three kunai. Sakura smirked, bringing out one of her own and blocked the projectiles. The sounds of clashing metal echoed in the small patch of forest.

Swiftly, Sakura raised a hand to pause their friendly taijutsu spar and Sasuke joined her on the ground. They both turned to face the direction of his brother and cousin and almost as if on cue, Naruto appeared all smiley and loud, holding hands with his girlfriend.

“Hinata-chan!” Sakura exclaimed, leaping on the dark-haired girl. “Are you joining us?”

The Hyūga girl giggled, hugging her back, “Good afternoon, Sakura. No, but Naruto-kun asked me to accompany him,” she paused looking at Sasuke and then the other two Uchiha, “If that would be okay of course.”

“It’s fine Hinata,” Sasuke assured her and started walking back to the middle of the clearing.

Shisui patted the space close to him, “You can join us. We’re here to watch as well.”

She nodded shyly and turned to her boyfriend, “Good luck Naruto-kun,” she whispered and squeezed his hand.

“I’ve got this, ‘ttebayo!” he gave a thumbs up and Sakura couldn’t stop herself from giggling. “Hey, hey, Sakura-chan, where’s my hug?”

“Why would I hug you when Hinata’s right here? Ask her,” she poked her tongue out.

Naruto feigned hurt and whined, “Ah, you’re so mean!”

“Shut up, Naruto-baka. Let’s go!”

As Sakura started dragging a laughing Naruto towards Sasuke, she heard Itachi asking Hinata why she wouldn’t want to join.

“Have you e-ever seen Team 7 training?” she asked him back. Poor Hinata, even though her confidence had rose considerably ever since dating Naruto, she still stuttered and felt shy around anyone but her friends of Konoha 13.

“I’m afraid it has been some years Hinata-san.”

“Let’s j-just say that people think they shouldn’t be training inside the v-village. They can be quite, um… destructive.”

Sakura had to chuckle at her words. It was true of course. Team 7 had indeed wrecked a number of training grounds and even got a restriction once, when they could only train outside the gates for more than a month. After that they decided to tone it down a little, but still, putting all their combined abilities together, it was a certain recipe for chaos.

“So, each for their own, huh?” Naruto asked with a wide grin when the three were facing each other. Sasuke smirked and Sakura nodded, immediately leaping away to take cover and plan their strategies. “Hey! That’s not fair!” the blond shouted, bringing his hands to make the sign for _Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_. A dozen Naruto’s appeared, some staying close to the original and a few wandering off to find his teammates.

Sasuke was the one to come out first, using his _Katon: Phoenix Flower Jutsu,_ with shuriken hiding inside the flames. Instantly half of the clones puffed out of existence. They engaged in a taijutsu fight, with kunai and shuriken occasionally being thrown at each other, before all of the clones disappeared, and the real Naruto was nowhere to be found.

Sakura stilled herself in her spot-on top of the tree and allowed her senses to search for the blonde’s chakra signature. She felt him close and she too leaped down and joined the clearing.

She blocked a couple of Sasuke’s kicks before Naruto made an appearance again. “Ha, now we’re talking! Let’s go, teme, Sakura-chan.”

There was a flare of punches and kicks. Blocking from the right and attacking from the left. Sakura felt exhilarated. She always had fun when sparing with Ino, or TenTen, but she could never use her full strength against them. With her boys –all her boys in Team Kakashi –she didn’t hold back. And they didn’t either.

After close ranged sparring left her two teammates with more cuts and bruises than her, they decided to turn to ninjutsu. Fire and Lighting techniques came from Sasuke’s direction, blocked with either Naruto’s Wind element jutsu, or Sakura’s Water and Earth defenses.

Sasuke once again leaped away to plan his next move, leaving Sakura and Naruto to their own fight.

Creating another dozen, or so, clones, Naruto aimed multiple rasengan towards her. Creating a _Doton: Mud wall,_ Sakura shunshined behind the original Naruto; her chakra pulsing through her arms and eventually gathering in her fist. He tried to block, but she changed her angle, smirking up to him.

“Shannaro!” she yelled, finally punching the ground with her _Cherry Blossom Impact_.

The ground around them broke in large chucks, leaving a crater behind. She used the chunks to her advantage, tossing them towards her blond teammate and his shadow clones, affectively destroying most of them.

Panting heavily, she waited for the dust to dissipate. When the air became clear again, she only allowed one look at the shocked faces of their three spectators, before dropping into a defense position to block Sasuke’s attack from her right.

Naruto joined again, whining about how Sakura’s monstrous strength could have killed him if he hadn’t moved in time. Apparently, their Uchiha teammate wanted more to their spar and brought his Kusanagi out.

His first target seemed to be Naruto, so Sakura paused to breath for a few seconds before going back to their friendly battle. Taking a kunai out she began blocking Sasuke’s blade, but she was late in deflecting, for he managed to make some deep cuts on her skin.

Blood was falling freely from all of them, though due to the Nine-Tail’s chakra, Naruto was being healed in a rapid rate. He managed to pull off a small Rasen-shuriken, knocking back both of his teammates, even though they avoided the actual attack. Trees and rocks behind them were not as lucky and all turned to dust.

Getting on their feet quickly, they had to all leap away when Sasuke used his Kusanagi, combined with his Lightning Release to electrocute the training grounds and roast them with his _Katon: Great Dragon Flame Jutsu,_ if they were to be a moment of hesitance before moving away to avoid it.

Gathering a lot more chakra for her next attack, Sakura started making hand signs. Sharp spikes of earth started sprinting from the ground, with the purpose of impaling her teammates. Well, of course she didn’t want to do that, but her technique was quite deadly, and they knew it as well. As they were moving rapidly to avoid the spikes, she created more hand signs and a giant water dragon rose above them, jaws open to shoot a myriad of razor-sharp water projectiles.

She kept her focus, moving the dragon to follow her boys’ movements. Naruto’s leg got hurt and Hinata’s worried scream reached Sakura’s ears, but she didn’t stop.

Bringing more chakra to her hands she moved closer to Sasuke, her chakra scalpels ready to tear his muscles. She met him head on, staring into the spinning tomoes of his Sharingan.

He tried to place a genjutsu on her and she cursed herself for making direct eye-contact. She dispelled the illusion with ease, before it even settled, but she felt her water dragon disappear after one of Naruto’s large Rasengan.

“Try to use your pretty little red eyes on me once more and I’ll gauge them out myself,” she seethed at her Uchiha teammate, who only smirked and charged at her with his Kusanagi held high.

His attack never landed though because Naruto intervened and took the focus on himself. Using the disturbance on her favor, she aimed a chakra infused kick on Sasuke, which landed him on a tree, breaking it in half.

Naruto charged full on with another rasengan, right at the moment Sasuke rose and sent a fireball on the blonde’s back, before dropping to the ground unable to move.

The rasengan made contact on Sakura’s stomach, sending her all the way across the clearing. It wasn’t a strong one and she was glad, for she’d had a hole in her abdomen, otherwise. The fabric of her shirt tore though, revealing a whirlpool shaped wound that was sure to scar.

For a few long minutes, all three teammates remained unmoved on the ground. Around them craters, splinted trees and scorched earth were left as the aftermath of their little spar session.

The pink-haired kunoichi opened her eyes, groaning in pain. Her entire body was aching, and her lungs felt as if they were on fire with the forceful breaths she was inhaling. She brought her quivering legs to a stand and made her way towards her teammates.

Hinata was already by Naruto’s side, hands glowing green to ease his burnt back. Sakura joined her, healing the most severe injuries and left the rest of cuts and bruises to the Hyūga girl and Kurama’s chakra.

She moved to Sasuke, who had bruised several bones and her last attack even ruptured his right lung. She set the bones and prompted the cell regeneration on his injuries that started closing shortly after.

Panting hard from chakra exhaustion, she helped him on his feet and moved to join Naruto and Hinata, then sitting by the other two Uchiha.

* * *

Shisui’s eyes widened in shock as he watched the three members of Team 7 –or as they were now known, Team Kakashi –go against each other. That was not just simple training.

“Hey, Hinata-san, do they, like, want to kill each other?” he had to ask.

She chuckled, keeping her Byakugan activated eyes focused on the spar, “No, they do n-not. I think it’s one of their team’s rules to never hold b-back, although for some reason today they are doing j-just that.”

Shisui did a double take at the three shinobi on the clearing and he decided to activate his dōjutsu.

“Are you kidding me? That’s holding back? Any of these attacks could actually lead to death if they land properly,” he exclaimed incredulously. “And do they seriously go even harder than that on each other?”

“I believe the reason they don’t go easy on each other even while sparing is because they have faith in their teammates abilities and efficiency to avoid deadly jutsu,” his cousin spoke in his usual void voice, yet Shisui noticed that he had his Sharingan activated as well and there was an edge to his gaze, indicating slight worry.

Hinata nodded, “That’s correct. When we were genin, S-Sasuke-san and Naruto-kun never wanted to hurt Sakura, b-but now they are all more powerful and consider each other equals. The s-same applies with Kakashi-sensei, Yamato-san and Sai-san.”

“But still, that’s crazy,” Shisui said and as right on cue he heard Sakura’s battle cry, just before the whole earth quacked violently and dust began rising from her location on the clearing.

The three onlookers fell silent as the dust started to clear up, revealing a crater the size of a small building. The pink-haired medic began punching large pieces of debris towards her teammate’s clones while Naruto tried to put some distance between them.

“What the hell!” he breathed, jaw dropped open looking at the enormous hole on the ground, before his attention diverted to his younger cousin who had drawn his sword and started attacking his teammates.

The girl beside him shifted in her position, “Wow, Sakura really doesn’t want to make much damage,” she said, mostly to herself as she also followed the Kusanagi’s movements.

Not too much damage? Shishui thought. “Remind me to never anger any of them.”

“Maybe it’s over,” he heard Itachi mumble after a while, when both Sasuke and Sakura found themselves on the ground after one of Naruto’s powerful jutsu.

Shisui was too stupefied to reply, but to his amazement they both rose again. He could tell his baby cousin appeared slightly mad, even from a distance, when he drove his katana to the ground charged with lighting and immediately performed seals to unleash a Great Fire Dragon to his retreating teammates.

“That doesn’t appear too friendly anymore,” he commended, just as a row of spikes rose from the earth, ready to impale Sasuke and Naruto. He could sense Itachi tense up when one of them grazed Sasuke’s side, but both males of Team 7 shot out of range.

“Oh, Kami,” Hinata muttered when Sakura’s water dragon began shooting water spears and yelled her boyfriend’s name in terror when one of them impeded to Naruto’s leg, leaving a trail of blood behind. 

With Naruto still in the ground, the pink haired kunoichi turned to Sasuke, chakra scalpels ready on her hands. From the distance she appeared like a goodness of war and destruction. A beauty, hiding the most devastating abilities to bring chaos.

Shisui had always been teasing the kunoichi, trying to rile her up and most of the times he was just playing around. Of course, he had noticed her growth, both as a shinobi and as a woman, but seeing her like that, dirty, bloody, body tensed with determination and agility of a dancer, woke up something inside him. Something he had never imagined feeling towards Sakura, the pretty, little, innocent medic and Godaime’s protégé.

Berating himself mentally, he turned his attention back right on time to see the girl freeze up as she looked into Sasuke’s eyes.

“Sasuke is placing some short of genjutsu on Sakura-san. I believe she’d be out of this fight soon.”

The Hyūga shook her head, “I d-don’t think so Itachi-san. Sakura is a natural genjutsu t-type, not to mention she has been training w-with two Sharingan users for years. I believe… I believe Sasuke-san just wanted to break her focus.”

Shisui thought about the girl’s words. Indeed, Sasuke had even mentioned multiple times that his female teammate couldn’t really be placed under any sort of genjutsu, even Sharingan induced ones. He observed the scene and noticed that whatever Sasuke was trying to do had broken her concentration and the chakra scalpels had vanished, though the kunoichi appeared furious.

The next sequence of moves happened so fast that even he had trouble following with his dōjutsu. Sasuke’s raised sword was about to slice through Sakura’s shoulder, but Naruto had intervened, knocking it away, before he turned to attack Sakura.

She on the other hand, managed to land a kick on his cousin, throwing him directly on a tree, splinting it in half. Just as Naruto was about to land a rasengan to his female teammate, Sasuke rose, performed some hand seals in amazing speed, shooting a massive fireball to the blond, before sinking to the ground once more.

The inferno ball made contact with the Jinchūriki backside, just as he drove the rasengan towards the medic, sending her flying back and dropping unconscious to the ground, as he too fell on his knees, unable to continue on. The Hyūga was on her feet before he even hit the solid earth.

The oldest Uchiha couldn’t even blink, let alone move or think. The last moments of the spar kept playing in his head. Were they really trying to kill each other off? Just what exactly had Kakashi-sempai taught his students? And all three at some point mastered under the three Sannin. Well, quite unwillingly in his cousin’s case, but still.

Shisui let out a breath he had no idea he was holding, observing the medic as she finally rose and helped Hinata to heal Naruto. After a few minutes of complete silence, he turned to Itachi, “Even you don’t go this hard with me. What’s wrong with them?”

Itachi shook his head, glancing towards his younger brother. They watched wordlessly as the original members of Team 7 picked themselves up and started wobbling back towards them.

* * *

“That was… wow,” she heard Shisui saying before whistling, but she didn’t pay much attention though. Instead she plopped on the ground, in front of Naruto, breathing heavily.

“Need some chakra?” the blond asked her, but she shook her head, closing her eyes in order to calm her body and mind.

“I’m fine,” she tried to say, though it came out weaker than she’d wanted, “don’t worry.”

“Just take dobe’s chakra.”

“Shut it.”

“Hn.”

The full-blown laughter of their teammate echoed through the training ground. “Man, that was a good one, huh?”

The shy Hyūga girl nodded, “None of you went as hard as you usually do, though.”

“I think teme would like to keep his grounds, Hina-chan,” he replied, pulling his girlfriend on a side-hug.

Sakura chuckled, mentally agreeing with Naruto.

“Don’t worry, Sasuke, I’ll fix it. Just give me a second.” She sat up, taking out a red box from her pouch and pulled out two chakra pills, plopping them to her mouth. She gave two to Sasuke as well.

He turned to her with a raised eyebrow, “These are better.”

“Thanks. I tried a new recipe to make them more eatable.”

“Can I have one, can I? Please?” Naruto bounced like a dog.

His female teammate gave him a flat look, “Are your chakra levels low?”

“Um, well,” he began, scratching the back of his head. “No?”

“Then no.” Seeing his pouty face she felt somewhat bad. “Don’t worry, I’ve made a batch for everyone, you know, for missions. I’ll bring them with me on our next team dinner.”

Naruto smiled excitedly and Sasuke gave a thankful nod. Waiting a few seconds for the chakra pills to take effect, Sakura started healing her injuries, internal and external, like cuts and bruises.

“You haven’t activated your yin seal, Sakura-san,” Itachi spoke and Sakura opened her eyes to meet his Sharingan on her.

Slightly awkward, she rubbed her forehead, where the purple diamond was. “No, I don’t have to activate my Byakugō for these kinds of insignificant injuries. If Sasuke had managed to actually drive his Kusanagi inside me back then, well, I’d have to then.”

“I wouldn’t do that,” he retorted.

“Right, well, I wouldn’t mind, unless you’d use Chidori current with it.”

“Hn.”

As if the conversation with Sasuke never occurred, his older brother continued, “So you’re healing without utilizing the Mystical Palm technique either?”

Sakura merely nodded.

“That would require perfect chakra control,” Shisui then said, earning an acknowledging nod from his cousin.

“I don’t k-know if you can see it with your Sharingan, b-but I’ve observed Sakura with my Byakugan a f-few times,” Hinata spoke, keeping her eyes to her lap. “Her chakra control and flow are unlike a-anything I’ve seen before. Not even like Tsunade-sama’s.”

“Yeah! Sakura-chan always had the best control even back in the academy. She can do crazy stuff with her chakra, believe it.”

The blushing medic smacked the blond in the head and laughed awkwardly, “Well, I work hard.”

With a swift move Sakura rose to her feet and moved to the clearing again. She made some hand-signs and sprayed water to the still burning bushes and trees and using her Earth Release, she leveled the ground, hiding the craters her fists and Naruto’s rasengan had created.

Returning to the rest, she wiped her hands clean, “Good as new, right? Sorry about the trees, though.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, how are you?
> 
> I just found out that my uncle passed away during the night and my family and other relatives can't go to his funeral because of the quarantine. I wanted to take my mind away from all that so I have been working on my WIPs and decided to update this fic. 
> 
> I kinda suck at action scenes? Idk, I'm more of an emotional writer I think, but hey, gotta go over my comfort zone. 
> 
> Basically it's the same scene by both Sakura's and Shisui's POV. I have one more complete chapter on this fic and maybe I'll post it as well, or wait until I write chapter 6. We'll see. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy it and your opinion in the comments is always appreciated :)


	5. ...ease my boredom?

“You got that Sakura? I need you back by next week.”

“Yes, Shishō.”

With a pleased smile, the Fifth Hokage poured more sake in her saucer and drank. “Good, now get out of here.”

The medic suppressed the urge to roll her eyes and gave a small bow before smiling warmly to Shizune-senpai – Sage bless her for putting up with Tsunade for all these years– and got out of the Hokage’s office.

Skipping her way to Ichiraku’s ramen, she even hummed that song Ino had been listening to the other day. _Yes_ , Sakura thought, _it’s a good day._

It had been at least three months since her last mission outside of the village and Sakura was feeling giddy for this one. It was a rather simple diplomatic A-rank mission, but at least she’d get away from the hectic hospital hours.

The Haruno girl made sure to greet every civilian and shinobi in passing and even stayed to chat with a street vender who had been her patient a couple of weeks ago.

“Yo! What’s the good mood for?”

Sakura cursed herself for once again not sensing her old sensei. Hatake Kakashi was casually standing in front of her, reading his damn orange book.

“Kakashi!” she yelled, “Stop doing that.”

He in turn closed his book, bringing it in his pouch and with a wry smile under his mask said, “Maa Sakura-chan, you’re a kunoichi, aren’t you? I shouldn’t be able to surprise you so easily.”

Passing by him towards the ramen shop she huffed irritated, “I wasn’t paying attention, okay?”

“Something good must have happened.”

She smiled at him, unable to be mad for a second longer. They were now walking together through the various shops.

“Sensei, I’m on a solo mission away from the village. It’s been _so_ long!” she chirped.

Kakashi chuckled, “Ah, of course. And what’s the mission?”

Turning her head with a deadpan expression Sakura shook her finger, “Can’t tell you that.”

They both engaged into a small conversation before finally reaching the stall. The aroma of noodles and seasonings that had in the past made Sakura feel sick, as Naruto only wanted to eat there, had her mouth now watering with anticipation.

The rest of her boys were already there and Naruto in his ever-obnoxious voice shouted, “You’re late!” after standing and pointing right their way.

Kakashi started blurting out one of his ridiculous excuses, earning a scoff from Sasuke and a chorus of ‘liar’ from Naruto. Sakura couldn’t bother, so she greeted Yamato and Sai and took her usual seat between the always broody Uchiha and ever energetic Jinchūriki.

The conversation flew easily between them all like usual and as she was chewing her ramen, Sakura couldn’t stop but think that the last few days had been quite favorable.

Not only had her program been approved, but her recent research on poisons and antidotes was going extremely well, she had received a mission after too long for her opinion _and_ Naruto had finally gotten the green light to be with Hinata.

Remembering the events of the previous night had Sakura smirking to herself. The entirety of Team Kakashi along with Haruno Kizashi and Haruno Mebuki had all but broken into the Hyūga compound. Of course Kakashi, Sasuke and herself, made quite the arguments towards Hyūga Hiashi, as Naruto’s ‘adoptive’ family – Sai had a gag order, since opening his mouth would most probably result in all of them being banned from ever even _looking_ towards Hinata – but it was truly her parents that stole the show.

In a rare act of seriousness, her father had gone a total 180° of his usual behavior, and unlike her mother had not only been polite, but spoke as Naruto’s father probably would, even bowing down to Hiashi-sama, to show his respect and belief of Naruto’s honest feelings towards the Hyūga princess.

And a civilian she may be, but Haruno Mebuki could scare grown ass men worse than even Tsunade-sama. The look the Clan’s Head had on his face when her mother not just threatened but _vowed_ to drag down the Hyūga’s reputation in both the civilian and shinobi districts, would permanently stay branded in the medic’s mind.

Hyūga Hiashi didn’t even stand a chance.

Now Naruto was telling them how he would have to court Hinata, to fulfill her father’s request ‘of doing it the right way’. Apparently, Neji would have to stand as her chaperone in most of their dates from now on. _Oh joy!_ She’s totally be trailing them just to watch Neji turn red and green.

When Sakura told them she’d be leaving early the following day for a mission, there were some protests from Naruto accusing her of ‘leaving the team behind’, but when she mentioned she’s only be doing boring diplomatic meetings, he let it go. Sasuke and Sai got curious though, but she couldn’t give them any details.

Sakura followed Sasuke home for his cousin’s therapy, making a brief stop to the Yamanaka flower shop to let her best friend know she’d be gone for a few days.

Walking through the Uchiha district alone with Sasuke by her side turned many heads and whispers of their rekindled relationship hung all around them. Sasuke simply glared at his kinsmen and Sakura pretended like she had heard nothing, like she’s always done.

Shisui was healing faster than expected so the medic happily told him that they may start with his rehabilitation after she’d get back to the village. He was clearly relieved by her words and his silly flirting escalated. Mikoto, bless her heart, didn’t comment anything during Sakura’s stay, but her amusement was hard to hide.

She returned to her apartment deciding to retire early for the night. After taking a shower and drinking a cup of herbal tea, she made herself cozy in her bed. Sakura was feeling giddy for this mission, sure it was a simple diplomatic one and in all honesty she had only been to Kirigakure no Sato only once before, not exactly enjoying her stay, but the prospect of meeting Mei-sama once more was good enough for her.

Sakura drifted off as she was mulling about the best route, she could take to Mizu no Kuni and fell into a dreamless sleep.

The next morning her boys were waiting at the gates, for once taking the role of mother hens, Yamato even ordered her to give him her backpack which he inspected thoroughly along with Kakashi-sensei. He himself was set to leave with Shikamaru later that day.

It was endearing and annoying at the same time, but Sakura hugged them all goodbye nonetheless, promising team dinner at her place when she’s back.

The way to the lowest port of Hi no Kuni was quite uneventful. She had stopped at a small village for dinner and rest for the night at a small ryokan and picked some herbs she found useful along the way. Who would have thought that the Kajube flower could grow all the way to the south? It definitely would come in handy for fixing some blood replenishing pills.

When time came to board the ship for the Feared Islands as their name was once, when Kirigakure was known as the Village of the Bloody Mist, she made her way to the deck, letting cold saltwater spray her face. Sakura chose to stay up throughout the night. She could sleep once she reached Kiri. It was in the early hours of the day when the ship passed through the Scarlett Ravine, again a name remnant of another time, for a place where shinobi of Kirigakure would drown their enemies.

The moment her feet landed on solid earth she made her way to find her guide. According to the letters her shishō exchanged with the Mizukage, it would be her own apprentice, Chōjūrō-san. Indeed, spotting his light blue hair she moved to where he was waiting for her. She immediately smiled, giving him a friendly handshake.

“Chōjūrō-san! It’s great seeing you again.”

With a small blush, he mirrored her smile, “S-Sakura-san. It’s been a l-long time. Welcome to Kiri.”

In retrospect, Sakura understood the reason she felt familiar with the Kiri-nin. As dangerous he could be, a lethal Swordsman of the Mist, his shyness reminded her of Hinata and even her old self, before she had met Ino.

She followed him and their hidden entourage, towards the Mizukage tower, where her meeting with Mei-sama would be held.

* * *

Shisui stared out of the window, body trembling with suppressed energy. He really wasn’t used to stay idle and watching his cousins spar that morning, did nothing to ease his tension. He even missed his work in the Police Force and that said something.

And he needed a drink. Badly.

His only consolation was Sakura’s words that he was healing fast and he could start his rehabilitation soon. Sure, he wasn’t an idiot, he knew he wouldn’t be able to do much for a while. She was adamant on that. No missions for at least two months, but still, he’d be able to stand and walk by himself, leave the fucking compound and release some of his agitation in other ways.

Ways he’d been recently thinking more and more often. Not that he was a sex-crazed person. Hardly. But the occasional decompression that particular activity offered, especially after missions, or when he was simply bored out of his mind, was always welcomed.

Another sigh escaped his lips, this time filled with irritation, but his thoughts stilled when he heard his baby cousin opening his window and a second later, he was perched on it, ready to jump on the tree closest to the house.

“Where to, Sasuke-chan?” he asked with ill-concealed mirth. His night had just turned interesting, it seemed.

His cousin only gave him an unbothered glance. “Mind your business.”

“Oh, come on,” he whined teasingly. “Tell me all about your nightly escapades. We are only separated by a wall after all and I’ve heard you sneaking out every other night.”

“Again,” Sasuke hissed, “not your sagedamn business.”

“Pff, fine,” he smirked, already happy enough to rile up little Sasuke. “Have fun and do wear a condom.”

“Shisui.” There was a warning in Sasuke’s voice, his hard glare, but Shisui only had the urge to pet his hair. He reminded him of a cute kitten, ready to snap its small claws to him.

He simply raised a hand to wave at him, “I won’t say a word to your parents. Now fuck off unless you want to be late.”

Apparently, his cousin needed not be told twice, for the next moment, he was gone. Shisui lowly chuckled to himself. Ah, little Sasuke-chan was a man now. Shaking his head, he turned around, plopping down on the bed, Mikoto-oba-san had claimed was his and stared at the ceiling, his previously amused mood dampening with every passing second.

If only he could go out and visit one of the bars himself, flirt around a bit, lay with a warm body, like his cousin would without a doubt soon be doing.

For some reason he wondered if Sakura knew about Sasuke’s what? Relationship? Sexcapades? Sure, they were close, being teammates and friends, but they had once been dating and it wasn’t the simply ‘being young idiots’ dating. No there were feelings involved as far as he could remember from his cousin’s behavior.

_Sasuke still had a photo from their date on his wall for Kami’s sake!_

Would he tell her he was seeing someone and how would she react? Was it really over between them? Could it be that simple after breaking up?

Shisui wouldn’t know. He had never been in any sort of relationship with any of his teammates. Not that it was frowned upon, especially not in ANBU. He had heard stories about other squads, where teammates lied on each other’s beds to unwind from the pressure of their work. It could cause problems in a team though, especially if emotions were involved, so Shisui stayed away from complicating team dynamics.

He was content in finding pleasure on other shinobi and civilians, even if that bought him his reputation as a philanderer.

Frustrated, he turned on his back, sliding his fingers down to the waistband of his sweatpants. Luckily, he was all alone in the house.

He tried to bring up images of his last time he held a woman in his arms, the warmth radiating out of smooth skin and the feeling of him being buried inside sleek walls. His hand moved, trapping his hardening member in his palm, letting a shudder leave his lips.

It had been a while since he had the urge to touch himself, especially since living in a house with four other occupants.

Shisui’s wrist snapped on the base of his shaft, pumping slowly his way up and down repeatedly. He closed his eyes, imagining smaller hands around him, hot breaths mingling and teeth leaving marks over pressure points. In his mind, his fingers found home in tresses of hair as he pushed and pounded into his partner.

His breaths grew heavy as he run his thumb over his slit, smearing precum with sloppy moves. The phantom sensation of hard nipples grazing his skin had his hips buckling in his palm. He wanted, needed, another body under or on top of his, so badly, it drove him crazy.

He needed to feel the way two bodies moved in a rhythm he knew would give him pleasure tenfold times of what he alone could achieve. Shisui’s free hand unsuccessfully reached to feel the irregular heartbeat under his fingers, to wipe the sweat on their back, but his other hand only moved faster.

A dozen different faces passed behind his eyes, but all had something in common. Parted lips, flushed cheeks, fluttering eyelids. A hungry darkness in their gaze.

And then, without his conscious command, he envisioned pink strands of hair grazing his collarbone, jade eyes, clouded with lust penetrating his soul and he came, hard and unforgiving all over his left hand.

“Shit,” he breathed heavily, blinking in the darkness of his room. “Shit, what was that?”

* * *

It took everything in Sakura to not punch the table in half. Why was it that every single Hidden Village’s Council was made of stuck up old coots? Her case was impeccable, her political skills had advanced greatly being around so many meetings by Tsunade-sama’s side and damnit she had been part of so many diplomatic missions that it was just ridiculous how the Kiri Council just seemed to turn all her words around. Even Mei-sama’s easy acceptance hadn’t persuaded them any sooner.

By the time she got them to agree to her proposition – well, the Hokage’s proposition – on a new trade agreement, her head was throbbing so much, she wanted to tear her eyes out.

At least they had no oppositions on the medical training program Konoha wanted to set up.

Actually, they had, demanding that Konoha send medics in Kirigakure, but she quickly shut them down. _She_ was supposed to lead the program along with Shizune-sempai and she would still be needed in Konoha to perform her duties at the hospital and take her occasional missions during that time.

If they wanted to be in _her_ program, they’d had to abide by _her_ rules.

After four grueling hours with the Council, Chōjūrō-san escorted her for lunch, introducing Sakura to his favorite sukiyaki restaurant, before going back to the Mizukage Tower.

Mai-sama was sitting on her desk, handling paperwork when the two Kage apprentices walked in. “Ah, Sakura-san, please have a seat,” she gestured smiling, and once again, Sakura was dazzled by her beauty as the sun hit her red hair, turning them into a halo of flames.

“Thank you, Mizukage-sama,” she gave a respectful nod, but nothing more. Tsunade-sama had taught her not to bow down to anyone, may it be a Daimyo or a Kage.

“Oh, please,” the red-head called waving her hand around, “Just call me by my name. You know I like you quite a lot, Sakura-san.”

“The feeling is mutual, Mei-sama,” Sakura beamed, easing her shoulders as she made herself comfortable in the chair. “I’m glad we ended on a good note today.”

The Kage nodded, “Me too. Although, I’ll have to apologize for our Council’s earlier behavior. They think they can always have their own way.”

“No, it’s alright. I have come across similar obstacles here and there. At least they saw reason.”

Glancing back, Sakura noticed Chōjūrō standing still close to the window, eyes trained on them, but staying on guard.

A melodious laughter brought Sakura’s attention back to the woman across from her. “I always tell him to ease up a little, but Chōjūrō-kun simply won’t.”

He gave them a small smile, cheeks blooming pink and again Sakura was reminded of her friend Hinata. She gave him an encouraging smile of her own, not meaning to make him even more uncomfortable.

“Mei-sama, I wanted to convey my gratitude for welcoming me in Kirigakure and regarding Konoha’s proposals. I will probably be leaving tomorrow since the meetings have concluded favorably.”

“Ah, I suppose we couldn’t indulge you in staying a few more days to enjoy some time off.”

Sakura laughed good-natured at the Mizukage’s honest apprehension of her departure. “I would love that, and maybe when I get some extended vacation time, I’ll visit again. But sadly, I can’t right now. Due to my position in Konoha’s hospital I am required to return as soon as possible.” The medic ninja gave her a smirk. “I am thankful we finished early though, because I can enjoy some time in the Village this afternoon.”

The Kage nodded, standing up to reach her side. “I understand.” She took Sakura’s hand and smiled pleasantly. “Make sure to visit the piers at sundown. The view is incredible and if you feel like it, I would love us to have dinner together this evening.”

“Of course. That would be an honor.”

“Good! Chōjūrō-kun could accompany you and show you around. If you haven’t brought any formalwear with you, he knows where to take you shopping.” Turning to her apprentice she smiled, “All of us will meet at _The Eclipse_ , say around 8:30?”

With their nods, Chōjūrō led her to the village, making sure to inform her about the best shops and their history. Sakura marveled in how different Kiri was from Konoha. The last time she had been here, she had barely time to observe out of windows, so she made sure to pay attention and experience the life around her.

At some point she was approached by some children, all curious about her unusual hair color and Hitai-ate. So, she told them about Konoha and let them touch her hair and even stayed to play with them and their colorful marbles.

Chōjūrō helped her pick a dress, because indeed she hadn’t packed one with her, and led her to the pier just as the sun was setting down. Mei-sama wasn’t lying about the beauty she faced. The endless sea was calm, reflecting the warm colors of the setting sun. The soft sounds of water meeting land and the fluttering of seabirds’ wings over them, gave her a sense of serenity.

Sakura couldn’t even remember the last time she had felt as peaceful. Her mind wasn’t chaotically overcrowded by thoughts and patient charts, numbers and objectives. It was just her, enjoying an evening with some good, if quiet company, shaved ice in her hand and the saltiness of the ocean on her tongue.

Indeed, she planned on coming back for some much-needed relaxation as soon as she got some proper vacation time.

“Chōjūrō-san, before we go to meet Mei-sama, could you show me your fallen shinobi Memorial? I would like to pay my respects.”

Bewildered, he agreed, and they stood to make their way away from the piers. Taking a deep breath, Sakura wished she had the Sharingan, so she could keep the image in her memories.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, I hope you're all doing well and staying healthy :) 
> 
> In this chapter Sakura goes off on a mission in Kiri to meet with the Mizukage and their council for diplomatic purposes and Shisui is getting bored and ... yeah ;)
> 
> I really really love Terumi Mei and I think she'd get along really well with Sakura? They're both strong, smart and kind, so it makes sense, though I don't remember if they actually had any interractions in canon. Oh well....  
> I conteplated on writing a scene with Ao, but then decided not to. 
> 
> Btw the Kajube flower is a herb I made up and the Scarlett Ravine is also not a canon location, but I gotta worldbuild a little.
> 
> I hope you enjoy the chapter and leave a comment to tell me your opinions ❤


	6. ...like to be my date?

Sakura was just three hours away from Konoha and perhaps just about five kilometers away from the nearest ANBU patrol territory when she got attacked. A bunch of bandits, but amongst them two shinobi with scratched Kumo headbands.

 _Scum_ , she thought as a katana swished right beside her ear. On the next swipe she simply grabbed it, really not in the mood for this. She closed her grip around the blade and _squeezed_ , until it snapped, and hundreds of shards dropped on the ground. The shinobi fell back, when one of the unfortunate mercenaries came for her up front.

Sakura raised her leg and delivered a round kick to his jaw, sending him flying. The next moment she was behind another one, kunai deep in his throat. A volley of kunai, buzzing with lighting chakra were aimed at her. Using the most basic kawarimi, she replaced herself with a rock next to the taller shinobi. Her chakra was whirling under her skin and the moment her punch made contact, he was buried in a crater on the earth; rumble and dust exploding around his bloody figure.

She used a Water jutsu to shoot some bullets out of her mouth, all connecting with the civilian bandits, rendering them immobile on the dirt.

“Huh, you’re a feisty lil’ girl, ain’t ya?” the other Kumo shinobi said, he had pulled out another katana.

She rolled her eyes, and tightened her gloves, “Can’t you be any more creative? You know how many times I’ve heard the same line?”

“Maybe I’ll find something a lil’ more appropriate when I make you scream like a bitch,” he smirked, a little sadistically. Yeah, Sakura was _so_ over this. It was already so hot and humid as it always was during the summer in Hi no Kuni and she had not slept for about a whole 24 hours. _Kami give me break!_

They met in a clash of sword and kunai and Sakura let some cuts to run down her body. Not like it mattered, or she felt them anyway. They were healed before the blood even began to crust. He was damn fast though and their dance became even bloodier with every breath.

With one hand, she blocked the sword and with the other she tried to deliver a deathly punch, but her opponent had anticipated that of her. His arm shot up, long fingers wrapping around her neck.

“Ya know, there’re not many people with pink hair like yours. You’re the Hokage’s apprentice ain’t ya?”

Sakura held the sword away, while he squeezed. She redirected chakra at her windpipes and the bones at the base of her skull. She needed him to talk, and she needed to stay alive for that.

“There’s great reward on your head out there, pinky,” he laughed then, and Sakura cringed at the smell of his open mouth. “To think we were just stealing from merchants for simple coins.”

Ah, so they were just wandering scum that fed of merchants and travelers. Well, they were in Fire territory. A bad mistake on their part. Sakura brought her hand back again, this time coated with chakra to form a scalpel. She tore through the muscles and nerves from his elbow down and his hand went slack, leaving her on her feet again.

She took a couple breaths, filling her lungs with oxygen before she took advantage of his surprise and touched his chest with chakra laded fingers. His heart burst inside his body, and blood started pouring out of his mouth and nose before he even dropped.

Sakura picked his sword and inspected it. Great swordsmanship, Kumo steel, possible chakra affiliation as well. _Hm, either Sasuke or Sai would be interested in it_.

An ANBU squad was around her by the time she sheathed it. “Oh, good, you’re here. I finished up,” she said gesturing around, “but I don’t have body scrolls to tidy up the mess.”

“Haruno-sama,” the taichou greeted, “We will take over from here.”

“Hm, yeah, but I want my reward for these two,” she pointed at the Kumo shinobi. “By the way, some of the civilians are still alive. Also, I’m taking the sword.”

He simply nodded, and Sakura took her discarded backpack from the ground. “And, stop calling me Haruno-sama, it’s weird” she said with a frown, “do you think I can find anyone at the bar?”

The other ANBU had stopped momentarily and if they weren’t wearing their masks, she was sure they’d be staring with their jaws wide open at the seemingly disrespect she was showing towards their taichou.

“Inuzuka will most definitely be there,” Neji answered, he too braking protocol. Sakura wanted to snort at the rule-uptight Hyūga. Instead she smiled and waved at him.

“If you’re done early, I’ll catch you there. See ya,” she didn’t wait for a reply before jumping back at a sturdy branch. She kept moving towards the village gates, the newly acquired katana bouncing on her hip.

She didn’t stop to catch up with Izumo or Kotatsu and headed straight to the Hokage Tower. Her shishō was sleeping at the desk, a bottle of sake empty in front of her. Sakura shook her head in fond exasperation and called for the woman to wake up.

“What do you want brat?” she mumbled when she finally came to. “Couldn’t you have waited till morning?”

“I’ll come by tomorrow to fill you in with the details, but everything went well, shishō.” She dropped the signed contract with Kiri at Tsunade’s outstretched hand and continued, “They also agreed on the joined medical program.”

“Great, get lost now.” After a pause she added, “You did well Sakura, not that I had any doubts.”

“Thanks, shishō,” the medic smiled. “Ah, there was a bit of trouble close to the second ring post. Nothing too serious, but two missing Kumo nin were amongst some bandits.”

She quirked her perfect blond eyebrow, “And?”

“Eagle-taichou’s squad is cleaning up, but I want the reward from the missing nin, whatever it is.”

“When did you become stingy like that Hatake brat?” Tsunade sighed but shooed her away. “Take a few days off.”

Sakura only chuckled and waved her goodnight, “See you in the morning, shishō.”

Wanting to believe Neji’s words, she made it to the Tipsy Shuriken – really, they needed to rename the bar – and let a deep breath when her nose filled with the unpleasant smell of sweat and alcohol. It was just what she needed though, so she made her way through the full establishment until she reached the bar. A busty redhead was on the other side and she gave Sakura a once over and a wink.

 _Cute_ , Sakura thought, _but not tonight_.

“A glass of Suna spiced rum, please,” she asked and fished for some ryō bills.

The woman shook her head, “It’s on me,” she said and handed Sakura her drink. Sakura bit her lip and thanked her. _Maybe another time_.

The pink-haired medic turned around and located her target easily enough. He was sitting with Shino and Chōji. She was half-surprised that no boys of her team were with them, but then again, they might have been sent on a mission while she was gone.

“Hey guys,” she greeted them and sat by Kiba, who smiled wolfishly at her.

“Welcome back, Sakura,” Chōji said and they were quick to include her in their previous conversation, before asking her how her mission was. She couldn’t tell them much, but she recounted her recent encounter, and she was glad to see that Kiba caught her need.

They had another round before calling it a night and she found herself in her apartment, being pushed at the closed door, while Kiba left open mouthed kisses and bitemarks up and down her neck.

“I smelled you from the moment you walked in,” he growled and pushed her up against the doorframe, his thigh securely lodged between her legs.

She moaned something sinful, leaving nail marks down his shoulders. “I was counting on that.”

Her clothes were more torn apart than slipped off and they found the way to her bedroom with well-practiced strides. His fingers were trailing her sides, pinching her nipples and tangling in her hair all the while.

Sakura was on her knees, before they could drop on the bed. Kiba helped her to remove his pants and boxers and she gave a pleased hum when his hard cock sprang out. Her tongue barely had a taste before she said _fuck it_ , and proceeded to do so, bringing it all the way to the base of her throat.

“Holy shit, Sak –” he groaned, twisting her hair in his hands. She bobbed her head up and down, sucking when she would reach the tip, before sinking him in her mouth again.

“What’s wrong, Kiba?” she teased, while pumping him, before starting to lick and suck him again.

His fingers pulled harder and Sakura was sure that he had ripped some of her hair but wasn’t particularly mad at him. She looked up and brought one of her hands to map his abs, her fingernails leaving white lines behind. She loved making him moan just as much as she loved it when he made her moan. With a hard tug, she let his cock fall from her lips.

“Enough with that,” he whispered darkly in her ear and tossed her on the bed. He was on top of her before she could blink and his mouth began his assault on her body, leaving no place untouched.

Finally, he went past her stomach, burying his head between her legs and Sakura couldn’t, even if she wanted, keep her groans at bay. Sometimes Kiba liked to tease, but when his tongue latched around her clit and began sucking, she knew he was just as desperate that night.

Kiba brought one of her legs over his shoulder and his nails grazed the back of her thigh and the tender skin of her ass, before he buried two fingers inside her. Sakura all but screamed.

“Fuck, Sakura, how long have you been just finger-fucking yourself?”

She rubbed her nipples and moaned when he picked up speed, with both his fingers and tongue. “Shut it. I’ve been –aah – busy.”

It had been more than a month since the last time she had sex with anyone, and she’d rather not think about it. Even though Sakura had always been a lot more timid in her sexual relationships than Ino, or even Tenten, she was still a full-grown woman with a few romantic relationships under her belt and some more casual flings here and there.

Not that many people knew of the fact. Haruno Sakura even though, by no means demure, was – in lack of better words – private when it came to her sexual life. After her relationship with Sasuke ended, it did take her some time to start seeing other people, mainly because their romantic involvement was so easy and comfortable that she was afraid of how the next one would be. For that reason, she had begun having casual flings, with a couple of them escalating to proper dating. Kiba was not amongst those.

No, Kiba and Sakura were friends who appreciated and respected one other while oftentimes helped each other satisfy their sexual needs. Sakura would do anything for him, even give her very life in order to protect him or heal him, just like she would do the same for anyone else in their mismatched group called Konoha 13.

Suddenly, his fingers were out of her and Sakura gave a whimper, being very well aware of how pathetic she sounded. But Kiba knew how to make her feel good, so when he simply smirked and licked his glistering fingers, the wetness between her legs grew. Kiba flipped her and pressed her chest and head on the mattress, caressing her bottom almost tenderly.

“You can come to me anytime, Sak,” he said while hunching over her to kiss her back, her shoulders, finding little scars and running his calloused fingers over them.

Sakura breathed in, “I know,” she replied and steeled herself for what was to come.

She knew how Kiba fucked, and on nights like that one, she took full advantage of it. It was the ‘ _after mission’_ , or more accurately, the ‘ _after fight’_ increased libido that many shinobi (if not all) found themselves falling into, and Kiba was one of the people she truly trusted to satisfy her more wanton needs. And he was always willing to. With how busy Sakura’s life was, balancing hospital work, missions and her social life, well… she was grateful for his enthusiasm.

He stood up straight then but kept his hands around her hips and Sakura soon felt his tip brushing her dripping folds. He was inside her in one hard thrust, no warning and no remorse. They both let out identical groans and Sakura had to bite the sheets to muffle her cries when he started moving, not leaving her any time to adjust. Kiba kept his pace, while squeezing her ass-cheeks, and Sakura soon found that she needed more. She started meeting his hips, wanting him to hit harder, faster, deeper – 

Grabbing her hair again, he raised her, so that her back was on his chest, his teeth nipping just under her earlobe, one of his hand cupping her breast. “More?” he asked, and Sakura couldn’t find her voice over the moans, so she simply nodded.

Kiba didn’t disappoint as he started moving faster, his growls rumbling through his chest and onto her spine. He shoved her down again and grabbed her hips to moved them back and forth in sync with his thrusts. Sakura was close, so close to reach her high and then Kiba’s hand moved to her clit rubbing short circles almost brutally.

“Kiba!” she yelled, and he rewarded her with a slap on her ass, more pressure on her clit. His movements became even faster, sloppier, and Sakura didn’t last. She cried out his name another time and her eyes rolled when her orgasm ripped her apart. She could feel his moves being strained with how hard her inner walls were clenching around him, but Kiba didn’t stop until he had emptied himself inside her. He was still circling her clit and Sakura’s whole body was trembling from oversensitivity.

They collapsed on the bed, Kiba on top of her and he chuckled, turning her head to kiss her, all tongue and teeth. She sucked his lower lip and bit it lightly when he removed his cock from inside her.

“Thanks, Kiba, I really needed that,” she smiled, and he kissed her again.

He nuzzled her hair, taking a deep breath, like he always did and hummed. “I know, I did too. Want me to leave?”

She laughed and hit his arm, “I’m not that much of an ass when I’m fucking my friends Kiba. You can stay. I don’t have to work tomorrow.”

“Then I’ll make sure to wake you up with a surprise.”

They laughed and shoved each other playfully. Sakura finally stood to have a well reserved shower. Once in her bathroom, she made sure to clean the sperm inside her with some medical ninjutsu and turned the water to hot. Her reflection on the mirror was like an illustration from Icha-Icha. She’d have to heal away the hickeys, but not just yet. She’d get more in the morning anyway.

* * *

It was well into the afternoon when someone knocked on his door. Begrudgingly, Shisui tore his eyes from the distant twilight, to watch Itachi walk in ‘his’ room, draped in a dark blue haorihakama. He raised an eyebrow to his cousin, not used to see him out of training clothes most of the time.

“I will be visiting Izumi,” he simply provided. “Okaa-san asked me to help you downstairs, since Sasuke mentioned that Sakura-san will be arriving soon.”

Shisui perked up with that. Sakura had been out of the village for the past week, but before her journey, she had told him that his healing was speeding up and maybe he’d be able to start rehabilitation soon. He also kind of missed teasing the young medic.

Suddenly a small lump on his throat made it difficult to shallow. Shisui had – quite obviously – realized that she had grown to a beautiful woman and an excellent kunoichi, but the fact that he had projected an image of her while he was pleasuring himself had been unexpected. So much so that he worried for the next time he’d see her and the awkwardness it could bring out.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he moved towards Itachi, who dutifully helped him all the way downstairs, though both knew that it wasn’t needed. The living room was empty, save for his aunt, who was enjoying a cup of jasmine tea and some mochi.

“Isn’t Sasuke-chan here?” he asked.

Mikoto smiled up when he sat beside her, “There was a summon from the Hokage about 20 minutes ago and he had to leave.”

“He did warn to not leave you alone with Sakura-san, though,” Itachi commented in his usual monotone, but Shisui could see the bastard’s amused gaze fixed on him. “He said it would be difficult to explain the destruction of the Clan Head’s house to our Elders without getting her in trouble.”

“Ha ha, very funny.”

Just as his aunt’s chuckles faded, a soft yet determined knock came from the front door. Itachi stopped his mother from getting up. “I need to leave anyway,” he said, before excusing himself.

“Be nice,” Mikoto warned him teasingly and he couldn’t help but feel slightly amused as well. Even his aunt was having fun with Sasuke’s overprotectiveness towards his little harmless jokes.

Shisui could hear murmurs from the entrance while his cousin and Sakura conversed, before her soft footsteps sounded closer to the living room. Looking up, he watched as the Godaime’s apprentice entered the room, the light green sundress that reached her knees, flapped slightly because of the air passing through the open window. “Hello!” Sakura gave them both a dazzling smile as she joined them on the chabudai. His aunt had thrown her arms around her petite frame before she had even settled down.

“Mikoto-san, my kaa-chan sends these,” she said and passed a shopping bag to his aunt. “They got a new delivery this week and she knows how much you like herbal bath salts.”

Shisui swore that he had never seen Mikoto as excited before. “Oh, Sakura-chan, how kind of her. I need to pay Mebuki-san a visit sometime soon to thank her myself.”

“She’ll be happy to see you.”

As the two women chatted some more about the bath salts, opening the lids and smelling the contents of the jars, Shisui let his eyes freely roam Sakura’s form while she was too busy to catch him in the act. Her short hair was flowing just above her shoulders, with two small braids pinned the back. Her eyes _sparkled_ like gemstones and even if that seems absurd, they really did. Actually, her entire face seemed to glow and Shisui realized that this was perhaps the first time in years that he had seen Sakura completely relaxed and well-rested.

The thing that somewhat threw him off, was not the change in her hairstyle, or the more casual, civilian clothing, but the fact that he could _see_ her collarbone. Ever since he had met Sakura, as a young genin, he had seen her in many variations of her red qipao dress that later became more of a shirt, sometimes the standard Konoha jōnin blues, her scrubs and lab coat and some casual clothes on nights were their paths would cross in a bar, or a restaurant. Yet, he had noticed how she always chose clothes that mostly covered the top part of her chest, albeit leaving her arms bare. That dress was definitely… different.

His aunt standing up cut his thoughts short. “Would jasmine tea be alright?” he heard her say.

“Oh please, it’s my favorite,” Sakura smiled and as Mikoto made her way towards the kitchen, he felt her eyes on him. “How have you been Shisui-san?” she asked, angling her body closer to him in order to examine his leg.

He simply watched for a second as her eyes hovered over the cast, before realizing that he had to answer. “I’ve been terribly bored. Say, Sakura-chan, would you mind keeping me some company for the rest of the evening?”

When she smiled at him instead of scolding him, Shisui felt the back of his neck warming up. “Well, I just promised Mikoto-san to stay for dinner, so I will be keeping you some company.”

“You did?” he asked, taken aback, feeling slightly ashamed, “I’m sorry, I was spacing out.”

The snort she gave out was not exactly ladylike, but it amused him all the same. Her hair bounced as she shook her head, but her hands stayed steady on his leg, minty green chakra sipping into it and mixing with his. Shisui could feel the way some of his muscles mended back, but it wasn’t unpleasant, in fact her chakra was awfully soothing, like a lull against his.

“Are you numbing the area you’re healing?” He had been curious for a while. Shisui had been an active shinobi for almost two decades and he hadn’t even hit 30 years of age yet, meaning he had his fare share of medics mending his flesh and operating on his body. In all those years, he had never felt as comfortable while someone else’s chakra was inside him.

Sakura hummed, blowing a strand of hair from her face, “Yes, somewhat. I remember the first time a medic nin healed me, it had been… uncomfortable and even a little painful, so when I started my training in the hospital, I made sure to numb the areas around the wounds I had to treat. With practice it became something I don’t consciously do. My chakra just numb and heal at the same time.”

She said it so casually, with a small shrug at the end of her speech that left Shisui gaping at her. Yes, he knew about her chakra control, she herself had told them and even Hyūga Hinata had commented on the fact, but seriously? Shisui always thought that his and Itachi’s chakra control was damn good, but just _how_ good was Sakura’s?

“Your control must be in the 90th percentile,” he mumbled thoughtfully.

“My chakra control is perfect.”

“Perfect,” he repeated stunned as her jade eyes bore hard in his.

She hummed again and focused back on his leg, “I had to train to reach that level of course, but I always had great chakra control. Your muscle system is fully reconstructed,” she said then, leaning away, “The next few times I see you, I’ll work on the damaged nerves. It’s a lot trickier and takes more time, that’s why I wanted to be done with the muscles first.”

“And the cast?”

“You’ll need to wear it for another week, but then I’ll take it out, give you a full scan and if I manage to reconstruct the nerves by that time, we’ll begin physiotherapy sessions.”

Shisui grinned and grabbed her hand, unconsciously bringing it close to kiss her knuckles, “Thank you Sakura.”

The soft pink shade that spread on her cheeks made Shisui’s heart skip and a not so subtle smirk grow on his lips. He made a point caressing her fingers before he complied and let Sakura pull her hand back.

“Uhm, no it’s –it’s no problem, I mean I’m just, uh doing my job.”

Her stutter was simply adorable. Shisui had made Sakura blush many times, whether from embarrassment, or anger but _never_ had he managed to shake her so much to make the formidable medic stumble on her words.

In an attempt to keep her cool, Sakura turned around and fumbled with her bag – or purse, whatever they are called – still under Shisui’s scrutinizing gaze. It was then that a blob of color, on the inner part of her left shoulder blade, caught his attention. I looked like a feather, perhaps, but her dress strap was somewhat concealing it. 

Curiosity taking the better of him, he leaned closer and brushed the strap away. Indeed, it was a peacock feather. When he noticed her tensing, he spoke quickly, “I’m sorry, I just wanted to get a better look at your tattoo. I didn’t know you had one.”

At that she relaxed and even held the strap herself so he could examine the tattoo. Then, she turned around and although the color remained on her cheeks, she smiled, “Yeah, I only have this one. There’s not really much behind it, just a long night with Team 7, a lot of alcohol and Sai wanting to practice some more permanent form of art on our bodies.”

He had to raise an eyebrow on that, “Really? Did your entire team get one?”

“Nah,” she laughed, eyes cringing, “Kakashi and Yamato said that their ANBU tattoos are more than enough.”

“I get that,” he also huffed a laugh. “What did Sasu-chan get?”

It was beyond amusing to think that his little broody cousin would even let anyone tattoo his body. Since that snake, Orochimaru, put that seal on his neck and all but kidnapped him when he was a teenager, Shisui couldn’t fathom Sasuke being on board with another type of mark on him.

“Ha, you’ll have to ask him yourself. He might as well kill me if I tell you.”

Shisui gave a hum. Of course, he would ask Sasu-chan, not that he would get an answer. “Tattoos are a bit taboo in our line of work. Can get us recognized and all that.”

Sakura gave another heartly laughter, her head thrown back and even a tear escaping from the corner of her eye. “Yes, because my Byakugō seal and the pink hair wouldn’t do just that.” When she composed herself, she shrugged, “Besides, our entire team is pretty well-known across the Nations.”

“I can’t argue with that,” he said.

It was true that Kakashi-senpai was in every single bingo book given his reputation, Tenzō or Yamato, was as well, albeit with his ANBU identity. Even little Sakura had managed to get her name in Suna’s bingo book when she was just 15 after killing Sasori of the Red Sand and due to a mission their team took about a year ago, she and the rest of her teammates made it into Kumo’s. Although, he didn’t know how much ryō they had on their heads, he would assume a lot.

When his aunt returned with tea and a giant plate full of mochi, the conversation lulled, revolving around the village, Sakura’s work and her upcoming medical program.

That was news to Shisui, but he reasoned that of course he wouldn’t be aware since she had just made the necessary preparations for it. So far, according to Sakura, Suna, Kiri and Kumo had agreed to participate by sending their medic nin, and only Iwa had yet to respond. The Five Great Shinobi Nations had been living in relative peace for the past few years, but if the Tsuchikage was also to accept, Sakura’s program would prove an additional major step to better diplomatic relations.

“You’ll be attending Itachi’s wedding, won’t you dear?” his aunt asked Sakura, after the kunoichi had asked how the wedding preparations were going.

There was a small but still noticeable pause, “Ah, I wasn’t aware that we’d be invited. I assumed that it would be an in-clan wedding ceremony.”

“Nonsense,” Mikoto chided, “I know my son wants some of his colleagues present and of course you and the rest of your team are invited.”

Sakura nodded with a smile, “Then I will be happy to attend, unless a mission or some emergency in the hospital comes up.”

“I could be your escort,” Shisui quickly said, leaning forward. He wasn’t going to pass the chance of spending a night with a brilliant and beautiful woman. Even if they’d just sit and speak all night long, it would be a lot better than mingling with his stiff relatives.

“Hm, I will have to think about that,” the medic said with a hint of a coy smile painting her face.

He grabbed his chest in mock hurt, “That’s mean, Sakura-chan. I promise I’ll be a real gentleman, just for you.”

Again, with that adorable snort she said, “Yeah, yeah, save it, Shisui-san. Tell you what, if you promise to do your best in your recovery, I might let you escort me.”

“Deal,” he grinned, completely ignoring his aunt’s exasperation. Oh, he just couldn’t wait to rub it on little Sasuke’s face!

“Shisui-kun, Sakura-chan could already have a boyfriend willing to be her date that night,” Mikoto said, making the young woman laugh.

“Oh, no, no boyfriend, Mikoto-san. I already have five overbearing men in my life keeping me busy, six if I include my father. I hardly have any time for a relationship.”

Both Shisui and Mikoto frowned at that, but it was the latter who spoke up, “You shouldn’t let your teammates take up all your time, Sakura-chan. You are already busy with your work and they are grown men, able to take care of themselves. I know from Sasuke that they all rely to you heavily, even breaking into your apartment at odd hours instead of going to the hospital…” she let her words float while shaking her head and Shisui couldn’t agree more.

Sakura on the other hand, chuckled, “Trust me, sometimes they can a bit much, but I don’t mind. Our team is… peculiar, I’d say. Neither Kakashi-sensei, nor Yamato-taichou like hospitals, or medics to be more accurate and I have been their assigned medic for years now,” she explained while pouring more tea for everyone, “Besides, I like spending time with them. Since my work at the hospital is quite demanding, I have missed many missions that were given to our team. I guess, it’s my way to make up for that,” she shrugged.

“Team Kakashi is special, isn’t it?” Shisui hummed, earning a nod from the pink-haired woman.

“Our entire graduation year and Team Guy, I’d say. We are all very close, even our sensei. Some people don’t understand our dynamics, but for us… I don’t know how to explain it, we grew up together and against all odds became something more that comrades, or teammates, or even just friends.”

“Your generation has done exceptionally,” Mikoto agreed, “If we take in mind just how many clans came closer because of your friendship.”

“Well, yes,” Sakura said slowly, “Our class had a big number of not only clan kids, but young heirs to that.”

Shisui had always admired the kind of spirit those of the so called Konoha 12 exhibited. When Sasuke was kidnapped, it wasn’t just his team, but the whole lot of them who moved heaven and earth in order to get him back. They worked closely with the Uchiha on that one and after almost two years, they managed to get him back and kill the snake Sannin. It was during that time that the clans banded together as well, because honestly, those young heirs didn’t let them do much else.

 _‘These kids will build a greater Konoha when they rise in power, just for the fact that they do not seek it,’_ Itachi had told him once and he had to agree.

“We will always be grateful to your team and your friends,” Mikoto said, probably thinking the same thing as Shisui.

With a hum, Sakura nodded, “Sasuke is ours just as much as he is yours,” she simply said with a grin so sharp that could cut through ice. His aunt seemed to like her answer and he realized then just why Mikoto-oba-san wanted Sakura to join the family.

She could love just as fiercely and consumingly as an Uchiha.

Shisui didn’t know what to do with this kind of information.

The two women left him alone just a few minutes later, to prepare dinner. Of course, his mother raised him to be someone who wouldn’t just sit idle by and let the females do every chore, so he offered his help as well. He only got two death glares in return and an order to “sit down”. He complied, because if there was anything, he feared most than an enemy shinobi with a blade on his neck, was five women. His late mother, his aunt, Tsunade-sama, Inuzuka Tsume and Haruno Sakura.

Sasuke was the first to return and Shisui immediately perked up, giving him hell about the little tidbit he had learned of his hidden tattoo. Of course, his baby cousin was, as always, no fun at all and like a cute kitty tried to threaten him with castration and beheading. Ah, such broody asshole. Even Itachi could be more entertaining to tease. If Shisui had full mobility of his body, he would strip the brat and see the tattoo for himself, potential injuries be damned.

Once his uncle came back from the police department, they sat around the dining table, with Sasuke helping his mother and teammate bring the food out. Conversation went easy and Shisui was actually surprised by how talkative Sasuke could get while Sakura was around. Usually, he would sit, eat and only communicate in grunts if someone would direct a question his way, while in his father’s company.

After Sakura had filled Sasuke in with details of her last diplomatic mission, the medical program and the run-in she had with some bandits and Kumo missing nin, Fugaku decided to turn the mood sour, once more.

“Will you be testing for ANBU this year?” he asked his youngest son and Shisui couldn’t help but notice Sakura’s whole-body flinch.

There was a second where the two teammates exchanged a glance, but Sasuke calmly replied, “No,” and went back to eating.

“No? How do you expect to grow your skills if you don’t take the next step in the ranks? The Elders have been asking me for years.”

“I’m already a jōnin, and I don’t care what the Elders think,” Sasuke said easily. “Besides, no one else in my team is in ANBU except Yamato and Sai and they are already assigned in squads.”

“This is your reason? That your friends are not in the black ops? Grow up Sasuke, this _weak_ way of thinking will get you nowhere. You will be assigned to a new team. Do not tell me that you believe you will always stay strapped to your current team or that you want to. You won’t grow stronger by staying stale in the confines of your genin team, don’t you –”

The scrape of the chair against the floor cut through Fugaku’s words before it fell with a loud thud. Sasuke was standing next to Shisui, looking ready to attack. He was genuinely surprised how his cousin had managed to keep his Sharingan inactive, with the way his body had tensed, and a wave of KI slowly leaked to coat the room.

“My team,” Sasuke started, pronouncing every word sharply through his clenched jaw, “is the only reason I am still alive today. Why don’t you fucking ask _her_ ,” he pointed at Sakura, jostling the table and the plates along, “how many times she has almost died while covering for me. And thank the fucking Sage for that damn seal on her forehead because she _would_ have died. I do _not_ ,” his hands crushed on the table surface, “want another team. I will _not_ have another team, because I would have to worry about my life in every step.”

“That means that you are not as strong as –” but Sasuke wasn’t listening.

“ _You_ ,” and the word held so much poison that Shisui almost flinched back, “have no right, no saying in that, so back off and don’t ever bring it up again.”

And with that, his cousin turned his back to them, walked away and disappeared out of the room.

“Come back here, Sasuke!” Fugaku shouted, while Mikoto stood and called her son’s name, but sunk back into her chair the moment they heard the front door slamming shut, shaking the entire house.

The soft sound of hashi being placed down on the table had the three Uchiha turning their heads towards the pink-haired medic, who slowly rose from her seat and dusted her dress.

“Sasuke is strong,” she said, staring steadily into the Head’s eyes. “You probably have no idea how strong your son is because you haven’t been paying attention. It’s not just in the way he fights, but the way he thinks and this strength, he – we all managed to achieve because of our team and how we relay our trust and lives to each other. He has not just the power, but the will and determination to move the moon in order to protect the people he cares about, and death is a small price for anyone in our team.”

Her smile was bright and genuine when she looked at the Uchiha matriarch, “Thank you so much for having me, Mikoto-san, but you’ll have to excuse me. I think Sasuke needs to blow some steam off and it’d be unfortunate for anyone else to get caught in the middle of _that_.”

With a gentle squeeze on the older woman’s shoulder, Sakura too circled the table and left the room, just as soundlessly as a summer day’s breeze. Shisui was left staring between his aunt and uncle, not knowing how to proceed, if that was indeed something he wanted to do.

Thing was, he understood Sasuke and he always loathed the way Fugaku put pressure on the kid for basically not being Itachi. On the other hand, he was aware that his uncle wasn’t just a cold bastard, he could see it in the way his head had dropped after Sakura slipped out, that he wasn’t unaffected by either of their speeches. He just didn’t know how to get through to his youngest son, because he was so different from his eldest. There had been a time that Sasuke was obsessed with making his father proud, with following behind Itachi’s footsteps, but that time was long gone. Perhaps since he found a team to call a second family, perhaps since he spent two years cut off from his family, while he was with Orochimaru. Perhaps he just grew up and saw all the wrongs in their clan like he and Itachi had.

“Let’s eat.”

“Fugaku…”

But the man had picked his bowl once more and refused to look towards his wife. Shisui gave a silent sigh and did the same, internally groaning and thinking just how the hell he would be able to diffuse the situation once Sasuke came back. They hadn’t finished their meals when Itachi walked in and as smart as his best friend was, he really had trouble reading the atmosphere in the room.

“Where are Sasu-chan and Sakura-san?” he asked after greeting them, while studying the empty seats and unfinished meals.

When his father simply stood and left wordlessly, Shisui threw him a knowing look and saw understanding dawning on his cousin’s face.

“How bad was it this time?”

Even though the question was directed to him, his aunt spoke up, with trembling voice, “I have never seen Sasuke so angry at us. I understand that he wants to do things his way and that your father is pushing him, but…” she couldn’t finish as a sob escaped from deep in her chest and tears sprang out uncontrollably.

Shisui stilled. Never in his life had he seen Mikoto so unsettled and it was genuinely terrifying.

Itachi was by his mother’s side in a flash, rubbing her back soothingly, “Do you want to explain what happened? Maybe I could talk to Sasuke.”

“I don’t think anyone in the family could have any success with that ‘Tachi,” Shisui told him honestly, “Not anyone from this family at least.” When he saw Itachi giving him a confused stare, he was ready to continue, “Your father told him to join ANBU and sort of went after Team Kakashi. Sasuke exploded, then Sakura all but scolded your father and went after him.”

The Uchiha heir gave a long sigh, changing his focus to his mother again and the room fell silent once again, except from Mikoto’s sobs.

* * *

Sakura bolted out of the Head house, leaving her bag behind, because she was afraid spending one more second in there would do no good to her rising irk and she’d demolish the entire damn structure.

Being in no mood for seeing more Uchiha, she shunshined out of the Compound altogether and when she reached a good distance away, tried to pick up her teammate’s chakra signature. When she couldn’t, she started walking towards the training grounds as far away from the Uchiha Compound as possible. She knew that what Sasuke needed right then was distance and a punching bag.

So many times, she had tried to understand, to make excuses for her teammate’s father, but that evening, she thought Uchiha Fugaku deserved nothing that his youngest son had to give him. The nerve of that man to diminish their team and its importance in Sasuke’s life. The fucking nerve! And not to mention how he still wanted to take charge of his son’s future. His life. A life that Sakura had indeed saved one too many times and just the thought of him joining the ANBU ranks…

She already had enough nightmares and close calls of heart attacks about Yamato and Sai and every mission her team went on without her. Maybe Sakura was selfish, maybe Sasuke could actually thrive in ANBU and truly she would give him her blessings if that was something he wanted to do.

Key word: _wanted_ , not pressured into.

As she walked through the streets searching for Sasuke, she gave literally no fucks of who called her and who waved at her. A war could start at that very moment, and Sakura wouldn’t even bat an eyelash.

As expected, she found him at training ground 26, one of the training grounds with enough rock formation to break in half and enough trees surrounding it to ensue privacy. Also, the one furthest away from his house. Sasuke was throwing jutsu after jutsu, using his Chidori to obliterate the sturdy rocks and the Kusanagi to cut down trees and pretty much anything on his way.

She waited until he slumped with his back on a boulder panting heavily before she approached. Sakura simply slit to sit beside him, silently. If he wanted to talk, she’d listen. But of course, Sasuke being Sasuke said nothing but that she would better leave him alone.

She had to chuckle at that. Once his breath evened out, she stood and offered him her hand, “Come on, let’s spar. Taijutsu only, leave your sword.”

“You’re wearing a dress.”

“How observant,” she deadpanned and raised an eyebrow, “When has that ever stopped me?”

When he simply stared at her but made no other move, she huffed, “I can take anything you throw at me, Sasuke.”

“I know,” he smirked and took her hand, immediately bringing it behind her back as soon as he rose. Sakura rolled her eyes and broke his hold, landing a kick easily enough.

When Sasuke was mad he had two battle modes. Completely destructive, or utterly sloppy. Clearly, he was leaning towards the latter that night. They exchanged blows, with her teammate being unusually aggressive, but even without chakra – because she didn’t use any as she had to try and heal more than physical wounds that night – Sakura made him bleed all the same.

Once they decided to end their spar, Sakura side-hugged him, mainly to keep him straight, “Let’s go get some pizza and see if Naruto and Sai are up for some games.”

“Sakura, can I –”

“You can stay in my apartment for as long as you need to,” she finished for him. She had a guestroom after all. It wasn’t much, just a small room with a single bed that was mostly used as a house-clinic by her stubborn teammates, when they’d come back tattered and bloody after missions or training sessions.

Sasuke leaned more of his weight on her, knowing she could carry him like she’d carry a feather, “Thank you,” he said, and Sakura felt everything he held behind those two words.

It was well after midnight when Sai and Naruto departed for their own apartments, leaving a mess behind them. Sakura eyed her living room, giving out a long-suffering sigh and decided she’d deal with it in the morning. Ten minutes after she had made herself cozy on her bed, her bedroom door opened and Sasuke slipped in, calmly making his way to her. She simply scooted over, and he laid down next to her.

“I’m sorry you had to see that today,” he whispered in the darkness.

Sakura rolled on her side, bringing her head over his beating heart and arms around his waist, “I’m not. I hope he’ll understand one day.”

His laugh was terrible in her ears, but he hugged her back all the same, “No, I doubt he will, but I think that I don’t care anymore.”

It was a scary thought, but at the same time Sakura knew that Sasuke deserved to be his own person, outside of his clan’s expectation, his brother’s shadow and his father’s plans.

“What did you do after I left?”

Even if Sasuke couldn’t see her smirk, she was sure he felt it, “Don’t worry, your house is still standing. Go to sleep Sasuke-kun.”

“Goodnight, Sakura,” was his answer, along with a kiss on the crown of her hair.

“Sleep,” she said again, and both proceeded to do just that.

Everything else could wait until morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, it's been a while since I last updated this one. So here you go :)
> 
> As I have mentioned, both Sakura and Shisui will have other sexual partners for a while, so I'd rather not see any slut-shaming and mean comments. Kiba and Sakura are just helping each other unwind like I imagine many would do if they were in their shoes. I mean come on... they're fucking shinobi, risking their lives like almost every other day. I'd want to live a little. 
> 
> Also, I think that shinobi in general would be a little more open minded when it comes to sexual preferences? If you don't want to see homosexual content, I'd advise you to not keep reading this fic, because there will be some. Again, I'd rather not see any kind of homophobic comments. Everyone's entitled to their opinion, but not when it's hurtful and inconsiderate. 
> 
> I wanted to say that Sakura and Sasuke have a strongly platonic relationship. They used to date in the past, but they're like best pals and they obviously have shared a lot with one another while dating, that's why they're so cosy even now. idk, I live for some good SasuSaku friendship and I try to make it happen, cause I'm tired of seeing them hating each other after breaking up. Don't get me wrong, it's dramatic and I LOVE drama, but let's do something different, huh?
> 
> Anyway, I hope you like it!! Let me know and stay safe❤
> 
> P.S. : if you spot any kind of mistakes (grammar/misspelled words etc) let me know in the comments. English is not my native language and I don't have anyone to help me edit or whatever. 
> 
> P.S. 2 : go watch MMMH by KAI and thank me later ;)


	7. ...just call me by my name?

When Sakura blinked awake, the first thing that registered in her mind, was the familiar smell of sandalwood and ozone, coming from the body next to hers. Sasuke was sleeping on his side facing her, while she had turned on her chest during her sleep. Sakura gave a silent yawn and turned around, watching as the red numbers of her alarm changed from 09:16, to 09:17. That must have been a record for both her and Sasuke. Neither were morning people, not really, but due to Sakura’s early shifts at the hospital and Sasuke’s entire family getting up at dawn, neither was used to sleeping past a certain hour.

Sakura turned back to face the Uchiha, pushing some strands of hair away from his face. It had been a few months since he asked her to cut it for him and it was getting past his jawline. Sakura didn’t mean to wake him, but when she felt his chakra awakening and his eyelids fluttering, she smiled.

“Morning, Sasuke.”

He grumbled something incoherent and pushed his face onto the pillow. Sakura gave a small huff of amusement and drew the covers away from her body, stretching languidly before getting up. Picking a hair tie from her nightstand, she threw her pink strands – they were getting long as well – to a messy bun and slipped out of the room. Taking care of her morning breath and other bodily functions, she washed her face and teeth, and walked back in her bedroom, just as Sasuke decided to get up and face the day.

“I’ll take a shower,” he rasped out and Sakura nodded, watching him try to tame his tangled bedhair.

When Sasuke left the room, she changed out of her pajamas, to a comfortable pair of shorts, a sports-bra and a black tee on top, probably Sai’s, as it didn’t fall past her thighs. She often wondered why on earth did Sai and Ino decide to be the _‘crop-top couple’_ but at least Sakura was glad to be able to wear his shirts without making it obvious that they belonged to a man.

As soon as she turned on her coffeemaker, she heard a knock on her door and sauntered away to answer it. She paused as her hand reached the doorknob when she realized who was standing on the other side, but she quickly deactivated the seals and pulled it open half-way.

Itachi and Shisui were standing before her, wearing their civies, with the older Uchiha leaning heavily on his crutch. They all studied each other for a moment before Sakura gave a polite smile.

“Good morning, Itachi-san, Shisui-san. How can I help you?”

Shisui went straight to greet her good morning, while Itachi inclined his head. “We are sorry to disturb you on your day off, Sakura-san, but you forgot your bag last night. Okaa-san instructed us to return it as soon as possible.”

True to his words Itachi held her bag out for her. She had completely forgot of the fact but remembering would mean to remember the previous night’s events and it was still too fucking early for that.

“Thank you,” she told them, taking it from him, “but Shisui-san shouldn’t be up and wandering around. Remember what I told you?” she raised a perfect pink eyebrow.

“Ah, come on, Sakura-chan! I was getting bored and ‘Tachi here can attest that I was only walking and even taking breaks along the way,” he smiled, and Sakura couldn’t really keep a stern face. She knew how maddening it was for a shinobi to just sit idle and couped up in a house all day long.

She sighed and tossed the bag on the dresser next to the door, “Fine, fine, I guess some fresh air could be useful.”

Just as she said that she picked an orange blur with the side of her eye and Naruto was suddenly standing behind Shisui. “Oh, what’s this? Some kind of party and we weren’t invited?” he said and squeezed his way inside. “At least we have enough food, dattebayo!”

She rubbed her face as Naruto dropped on her sofa and tossed the bag of whatever he brough on the coffee table in her living room. “Morning Sai,” she said to her pale teammate, as he too passed between the Uchiha cousins, who had made some room for him.

“Good morning, Ugly,” he smiled. “We brought gyoza from that place across Ino’s shop. Is tea ready?”

“I didn’t know you were coming over,” she gritted out.

He hummed and turned away, going further into the apartment in the direction of her kitchen. Sakura let a breath but smiled fondly when she heard Naruto turning on some music.

“Oi, are you guys coming? And where the hell is teme?”

Green eyes snapped back to the pair at her entrance. She wasn’t sure if Sasuke would want to see them, but she couldn’t exactly be rude and ask them to leave. “Please, come in,” she pushed the door further back.

“We wouldn’t want to impose,” Itachi said, but it was clear that he wanted to see his brother. Sakura shrugged and turned around, leaving the door open.

“Take your feet of the table, baka! We’re going to eat here,” she scolded Naruto, who did as was told immediately, with a sheepish smile. “Sasuke’s in the shower. Take the boxes out and I’ll bring some plates.”

As she made to join Sai in the kitchen, she saw the two Uchiha coming inside and closing the door behind them. She turned down their offer to help and pointed them towards the living room. Sasuke had definitely heard or at least he had sensed that they were in the apartment. Her kitchen and bathroom were right across from each other, so she noticed when the shower turned off.

Sai was placing cups on a tray, and he managed to balance it on one hand as he took the kettle on the other. Sakura followed him out shortly after, with a stack of plates and a handful of waribashi, just as Sasuke exited the bathroom, with only a towel around his waist.

She stopped and watched him as he glanced towards the living room. His brother and cousin immediately returning the look. “Hey teme!” Naruto shouted and Sai just raised two fingers, in a Kakashi motion. Sasuke had been staring between Itachi and Shisui and finally Sakura decided that it was enough.

She shoved him with her shoulder, as she passed in front of him, “The boys brought breakfast. Go change and join us.”

Itachi immediately rose to help her place the plates down and Sakura returned to the kitchen in order to grab the coffee pot and her favorite cup – the one Ai-chan had gifted it to her and although painful in memory, Sakura loved the strawberry design – that she had placed next to the coffeemaker a little earlier. She also stacked a milk bottle under her armpit for Naruto. 

“Oh, Kami is that coffee?” Shisui exclaimed with wide eyes and wide grin.

Sakura couldn’t help her chuckle as she sat on the floor, “I take it you haven’t had some in a while, Shisui-san? Would you like some?”

“You’d be right,” he sighed and held his cup out as Sakura offered to pour some for him. “Itachi, Sasuke and their parents only drink tea and they don’t even have a coffeemaker at home. I might have just fallen in love with you Sakura-chan!”

“Because of some coffee?” she laughed again, “That’s a first for me.”

“Really?” Sai asked. “You definitely had lots of weird confessions. This one was at least humorous, I believe?”

Naruto boomed in laughter, but shoved Sai aside, “You’re a fucking idiot.”

“I believe my intelligence much surpasses yours, Dickless.”

“The hell?! Did you just imply I’m stupid you… you ghost-boy?” Naruto fumed and leaned in Sai’s personal space, poking the artist’s shoulder with his finger.

Sakura sipped on her coffee, letting a hum of appreciation. Black, strong, with hazelnut notes. Just perfect. She smiled at the two Uchiha, who had been staring between the three teammates and took another sip.

“Precisely.”

“I’ll kill you, bastard!”

“If you two don’t stop,” she sang out, “I’m gonna start throwing punches.”

Like elastic straps, both boys pushed away from each other and straightened their spines. Sai started drinking his tea, while Naruto began opening the boxes. “We got some pork, veggies, ah and shrimp for Sakura-chan!”

“Sasuke!” she bellowed, “I’m starving, get your ass here!”

Sakura didn’t pay attention to the widened eyes of the Uchiha – well only a tiny bit widened, in Itachi-san’s case – and wore a triumphant smile when Sasuke, fully clothed in the spare clothes he kept in her closet, walked into the living room, heading straight for the armchair beside Naruto’s side on the sofa. Sai moved to sit on the floor, next to her, so that they could all eat comfortably.

“Itadakimasu,” they all said and broke their waribashi, diving in.

From the corner of her eyes, she could see Sasuke’s shoulders tenser than they should be, but Naruto’s constant chatter seemed to do the trick. From her right, Sai passed a shrimp gyoza on her plate and she thanked him by pouring more tea on his cup.

The soft, but upbeat music provided a nice sound under their conversations. Only Itachi-san and Sasuke hadn’t talked much, but that was to be expected. Naruto began a story about a past mission then, as always exaggerating on the details, but he got both Itachi’s and Shisui’s attention.

A particularly cool breeze passed through the window behind the armchair Sasuke was seated on, and Sakura let her eyes fall shut, as Naruto’s powerful voice, Sasuke’s grunts and Sai’s snarky comments filled her ears. She planted her palms on the floor and leaned back, smiling softly at the familiarity of it all and not for the first time, wished that her every day could be just as relaxing and predictable.

Because it was predictable, they were. And she loved it. She loved the way she knew _exactly_ what Naruto would gloss over and what he’d boast about, she knew _exactly_ when Sasuke would just mumble out a faint ‘hn’ or slap his best friend right on the back of his head and she knew _exactly_ how Sai would at some point completely ignore them and bring his sketchbook out.

When she heard hashi being put down and the rustling of pages, she opened her eyes, seeing Sai doing what she had just been thinking. Sakura smiled at his concentrated face, as he observed a half-finished drawing and pulled her body to a proper sitting position again.

Bringing her attention to the people around her, she found Shisui’s onyx eyes already on her. There was no smile on his face then, and Sakura paid attention. Under the morning light in her living room, she really looked at the man and for the first time observed the lines around his cat-like eyes, the tiny scar on his forehead and the slight stubble on his chin.

Uchiha Shisui wasn’t that much older, around 7 or 8 years, if she remembered correctly, but he always appeared _young_ to her. Maybe because he was often smiling and just like Naruto, that brought some sort of brightness to his whole person, a more _youthful_ appearance. But right then, she realized that he looked his age and more than that, he looked tired.

Maybe he had just dropped the mask.

He was studying her the same way she had and as Sakura brought her own eyes to his and kept his gaze, he didn’t shy away. There was _something_ in those dark eyes, something heavy, but not uncomfortable and then there was an amused glint, reflected by the slight curl of his lips.

Sakura raised an eyebrow at that. He did the same. She almost laughed out loud.

A firm finger tapped her arm and she faced Sai. He had a blank page of his notebook in front of him and a miniscule tilt of his lips downward that meant he needed to ask one of his questions. “I was wondering…” he paused, and Sakura nodded at him to continue.

“Would it be socially appropriate to ask you and Ino to pose naked for me to draw?”

There was a simultaneous stop in the conversation taking place between the others present, accompanied by Naruto spilling out a mouthful of milk and a jerk of someone’s leg on the table.

Sakura blinked, replaying the absurd question in her head, but as much as she tried to think otherwise, she knew Sai wasn’t joking. He was asking for real. “Come again?”

“Of course,” he nodded, “I asked if I could paint you and Ino naked.”

“Sai, what’s your problem man?” came Naruto’s cry.

The newest member of their team looked at the blond with slightly furrowed brows. “I don’t understand what you mean. Truthfully, I think there is no problem. Ino has posed for me many times and I already have some nude sketches of Ugly…”

_“What?!”_

“–But they were only based on imagination. I would like a more accurate image.”

“Sai,” she seethed, feeling warmth blooming in her chest and face due to anger, “what the hell do you mean you have sketches of me? _Naked_?”

“Sakura-chan, calm down!”

The ex-ROOT gave her a smile and tilted his head, “I could show them to you. I think they came out nicely and other people told me so, as well, but as I said, I don’t know if they are an accurate representation.”

The next second Sakura had shot up, fist ready to pummel Sai through her floor, but Sasuke, had grabbed the collar of his shirt and pushed him back, while Naruto had jumped over the coffee table to grab her arms behind her back.

“Sakura-chan, Sakura-chan, please. He’s your teammate, don’t kill him. You know how he is,” he gave an awkward laugh, “no common sense whatsoever, ‘ttebayo!”

Sakura huffed and tried to push past Naruto’s hold, but he used some of the Kyūbi’s chakra to keep her in place, “I swear to Kami Naruto, if you don’t let me go, I’ll kill both of you!” she roared.

“Fucking moron,” Sasuke muttered, while still holding Sai behind him.

“Please,” Naruto whined, feet sliding on the wooden surface as Sakura advanced forward, “Sakura-chan! You don’t want to do this. You’ll regret it!”

Sasuke dragged their confused teammate further away from the furious pinkette.

“Why on Earth do you _think_ that it’s okay to not only draw me naked but show it to others?!”

Sai smiled again, “Oh, I needed their opinion.”

“Sai!” she gritted her teeth, while Sasuke all but growled, “Shut the fuck up!”

“Sakura-chan, listen, we’ll just burn – yeah, we’ll burn them ‘kay? You don’t need to worry; he won’t do it again…”

“Naruto hold her,” came from Sasuke, as Sakura was slipping out of the blond’s arms.

“Don’t you think I’m trying, teme? Come on, Sakura, they don’t even look like you, that much!”

“Dobe!”

Sakura stilled, observing Sasuke as he sighed and slowly turned her head, briefly registering the other two Uchiha who were staring at the scene petrified, before side-eyeing Naruto. “You. Saw. Them. Too.”

The Jinchūriki mindlessly nodded, before understanding dawned on him and shunshined away from her, coming to stand behind both of their black-hated teammates. “I – I can explain. I didn’t –”

“You both deserve what’s coming,” Sasuke cut him off and took a smart step on the side.

Sakura, finally free, took the remaining steps towards them, a tight fist charged with chakra ready to slam on the two idiots, but only met a cloud of smoke as either Sai or Naruto shunshined them both out of her apartment. Too late to do otherwise, she expelled the chakra, throwing Sasuke back and making him fall sideways on the armchair. The window behind him and the items on the low table quaked with the invisible impact. She took a few deep breaths as the smoke evaporated and craned to look at the remaining member of the _Three Stooges_.

“Don’t look at me, I didn’t know.”

Sakura huffed, turning to face him entirely and smiled her most dazzling smile, relishing in the way his Adam’s apple bobbed. “Oh, thank the Sage, because I’d hate to have to arrange three funerals on the same day. I don’t know for whom I’d manage to cry first.”

She heard him mumbling under his breath, “What was that?”

“Nothing,” he shallowed and righted himself on the armchair. “Whatever you do, do it during training and call it an accident.”

“It’s not funny, Sasuke,” she sighed and dropped on her previous seat on the floor. “I don’t even want to know who has seen those drawings.”

“Sai didn’t do it on purpose, you know that he’s just…”

“I know,” she nodded along.

Of course, she did and as she was beginning to cool down, she found that she couldn’t even keep being angry at Sai, or Naruto, for that matter. Sai often just didn’t _know_ what was supposed to be said and done, and that wasn’t his fault. He could have refrained from showing something depicting his teammate in an indecent manner to other people, but again, he probably didn’t even think it was wrong or inappropriate.

And as for Naruto. Oh, she’d give him a rough time on their next training session, because he could have informed Sai of how inconsiderate it was to make and keep and showcase these kinds of sketches, but Sakura knew that the boy didn’t have an ounce of ill-intent in him – exempting some of Kurama’s of course.

“Sorry you had to see _that_ so early in the morning,” she chuckled uncomfortably as she watched the older Uchiha. Itachi still had a faint blush on the top of his cheeks and Shisui look equally parts amused and uneasy.

Itachi cleared his throat and picked up his tea, “Ah, please do not worry Sakura-san. For all it matters, your reaction had been justified.”

“Is this how things go down with you guys? I mean, it’s funny but kinda concerning at the same time,” Shisui smiled and then gave her a softer look. “And I think your teammates are a little insensitive.”

Sakura studied the pool of spilled milk on her floor, trying not get irked by those words, “They’re idiots with lack of basic common sense, but that’s all they are, Shisui-san,” she finally settled with, maybe a bit harsher than intended.

“I didn’t mean –”

“Then don’t comment on things you have no knowledge of,” Sasuke snapped and stood up, walking away from the living room.

For a brief moment, green eyes followed his back, but settled back on his kin. Shisui seemed stunned at the sudden hostility but gave her a small smile. “I apologize, I didn’t intend to speak badly of them, just point out the fact that they were a little inconsiderate.”

“Indeed,” Itachi also said, eyes trained to where his brother disappeared from.

“Ah, you know how families can get. We fight, make up, fight again and laugh it off later, occasionally exchange some punches,” she smiled. “But at the end of the day they are the ones there for me when I need it most, or even when I think I don’t.”

Sasuke emerged in the room again, holding a wet cloth and kneeled to wipe the milk, so that it wouldn’t stain. “Are you staying long?” he asked as he kept wiping and there was a pause before anyone spoke.

Sakura could see it clear as day that Itachi-san was dying to speak with his brother, but Sasuke was being difficult as always. The heir of the Uchiha clan, wouldn’t push past his brother’s boundaries, even if he wanted to.

With a barely audible sigh, she stood up, “Shisui-san, I was thinking that maybe I could work on your leg a bit more since you’re here.”

“Wha – Ah, yes, that’ll be… yeah,” he nodded, glancing towards his cousins before picking up his crutch.

Sakura walked up to Sasuke and took the cloth, meeting his eyes. He wasn’t happy, but she knew he had to talk with his brother sooner or later. “Thank for cleaning up. We’ll be about half an hour.” Then she joined Shisui’s side and grabbed his free hand – it was surprisingly warm – in order to lead him in her spare bedroom. Once inside, she closed the door, the silence seals she had placed – mainly for her friends when using the room – automatically activating.

“Sorry,” she chuckled, leaving his side to open the blinds and window, so fresh air and light could come in, “I haven’t used the room in a few weeks. You can lie down,” she told him when she was done and moved closer as well.

Shisui sat on top of the sheets, before bringing his leg up to lie down completely as instructed, while observing the small room. She wondered what he was thinking, but he beat her question.

“A few weeks…” he muttered, “So, Sasu-chan didn’t stay at your place last night?”

“Oh, he did,” the words came out, before Sakura even thought about them and she chastised herself. He’d think that they… “We just slept together.” _Kami that came out_ so _wrong_ , she thought blushing down to her chest. “I mean,” she coughed, “we just slept next to each other. Platonically.”

Laughing, he waved her off, “You don’t have to explain anything to me, Sakura-chan. You’re both old enough to do whatever you want; besides, I only get into my cousin’s business enough to annoy him.”

“No, I know that, but seriously, Sasuke and I… we’ve been there, didn’t work in the long run, so we’re just friends. I mean, I obviously love him, as in I care for him, but…”

_Okay, shut up! Why am I even discussing this with his cousin?_

He only hummed, and biting down her mortification, along with her blush, Sakura approached the bed and activated her medical chakra. Even with her eyes closed, she felt Shisui’s gaze hot on her skin, but decided to keep her focus on the nerves she was reconnecting and nothing else.

Eventually his voice made her snap them open, “How do you do it? You and Sasuke I mean.”

“I don’t understand, Shisui-san. Maybe elaborate a little further?”

“I remember you,” he said, smiling, “when you were dating. You were happy and clearly very much into one another. It’s been a couple of years now, I get it, but you have the same friends, you’re in the same team,” he made a small pause, black eyebrows furrowed as he looked away. “You’ve both moved on, but you had strong feelings for each other then, so how can you still be so…”

“Close? Comfortable around each other?” she finished for him, finally getting his point. He nodded and she looked back down at his leg, the chakra on her palms never flickering. “It wasn’t easy at first and it didn’t happen the day after we broke up, or even the following week. I think it was…” she stopped to think, “maybe a couple of months that we just tiptoed around each other.

“As you said, we do have the same group of friends and we’re teammates, so we had to be around each other anyway. Of course, by that time, I was already working in the hospital and didn’t have as many missions with Team Kakashi, but still, we trained together, we had team dinners and I would heal him after missions and such. To be honest, it was awkward, not just for us, but everyone around us, especially the rest of our team,” she confessed with a laugh.

“I can imagine,” Shisui nodded and leaned further back on the pillow. “So, how did you find your balance?”

Sakura shrugged, still smiling, “We figured out that we were being idiots, acting like children after a fight, so we decided to just… be how we used to be, only without all the romantic stuff involved. It took some time until we begun being comfortable. It took everyone else even more time, because they didn’t know what to say or not say around us and how to act. I don’t know, for us it wasn’t that hard to be friends again, because we obviously cared about each other and I won’t lie, I think the first time I saw Sasuke with someone else, I felt _so_ weird, even a little jealous and it was the same for him, but now… it’s completely fine.”

“Is it?” he hummed, and Sakura’s smile widened. “Didn’t your dynamics change?”

She had to think about that. It wasn’t that they had changed, but there was a time after their breakup that they definitely didn’t feel comfortable working together. Sakura had taken a few weeks off active duty then, cooping herself in the hospital and research lab. Sasuke had also refrained from visiting her for his injuries, either not having them healed at all, or asking Shizune to examine him.

“At some point, yes, and maybe even now they’re different from back then, but our teamwork is still as great as it was. Even better actually,” she finally said.

Shisui opened his mouth to say or ask something else, but a loud voice from the living room caught him off and both turned their attention to the commotion.

“It’s not your fucking business Itachi! And it’s not father’s or anyone else’s either, okay? I don’t care what they want me to do, I won’t, so go tell him that!”

There were some muffled noises before Sasuke erupted again, “No! And if that’s why you came then you better leave. I thought that at least _you_ would understand but clearly I was wrong,” followed by footsteps getting near and Sakura’s bedroom door slamming shut.

Sakura closed her eyes and sighed. Green orbs opened again to stare at the opposite wall behind which was her teammate and sighted again, before going back to mend Shisui’s leg.

“That didn’t go well,” she heard him mumbling under his breath and couldn’t help but nod along with agreement.

“No. I think it’s going to be a while until he comes back home, so tell Mikoto-san not to worry. We’ll make sure he’s fine and eats well,” Sakura tried to smile, but her worry was undoubtedly painted all over her face.

The Uchiha’s smile lacked the usual mirth as well, “Well, some time away from the compound would do anyone good. The kid needs to loosen a bit as well, so maybe take him for a few shots, since apparently, _you_ can’t even get drunk. Let him become someone else’s problem for one night.”

She actually laughed with him and shook her head, “My boys and their problems will always be mine, but thanks for the idea Shisui-san, I’ll definitely put the plan in action tonight.”

“Always glad to be of service my fair maiden,” he winked, and she made sure to let him feel more of the procedure happening on his leg, earning her a nice and painful grimace of his. “Rude,” he whined, then, “Say, Sakura-chan, would you mind stopping addressing me so formally? Just call me Shisui, or Shisui _-kun_. I feel so old every time you say my name.”

Sakura blinked stupidly at his request, “I thought… I mean, I respect you a lot, so it was either Shisui-sempai or Shisui-san and you said many years ago that you didn’t like Naruto and I calling you sempai.”

“You do? I did?” he stared blankly before his whole body shook as he cracked up. “No, no, please, just Shisui. Kami, I don’t even remember that,” he told her while wiping the corner of his eye, “Besides, we’ve known each other for so many years, it’s absurd to be so formal.”

“Um, okay,” she bit her lip, uncertain. “Shisui then… Shisui-kun? No, it’s too weird,” she flushed once more, amusing him further. “It’s not funny okay? It’s like when Kaka-sensei started telling us to _not_ call him sensei anymore.”

“Yes, but he was your sensei for some time, so I guess that’s understandable. I’m just Shisui,” he shrugged, keeping his eyes locked with hers. “I like Shisui-kun better, though.”

Sakura fought the snort and instead glared at him, “Don’t push it. You call me _Sakura-chan_ and you know I hate it, so if anything, I think I’ll continue calling you Shisui-san.”

“Ah, then I’ll start calling you Sakura, how’s that?” he asked, clearly flirting, but something felt wrong. Wrong but in a way that Sakura couldn’t quite place in contrast to his usual flirty behavior.

“Eh, yeah, if you want.”

 _That was lame_ , she told herself and focused back on his leg as they fell into silence. Healing the last of the damages nerves, she gave a long sigh and smiled, as she helped him sit up. “Okay, I’m done. The bone is still not completely healed though but give it a week. Let’s schedule an appointment for Monday and then we’ll also discuss your physiotherapy program.”

“Should I come to the hospital?” he asked as he grabbed the crutches and stood up.

Sakura nodded, “It’d be best to do that, since I need to take some x-rays for your medical files, and I’ll need my equipment to take the cast off. I don’t think your therapy period will exceed two or three weeks, but you’ll need to strengthen your leg again after that.”

“So, no missions for a while,” he sighed, ruffling his hair.

“No missions for a while,” she agreed, “but at least you’ll walk around freely and won’t be restricted with these,” she pointed at the crutch and the cast around his leg. “And don’t forget, Itachi-san’s wedding is less than two months away.”

“How can I possibly forget? You promised to be my date, didn’t you?”

Sakura hated the glint in his eyes. Mainly because it showed her that while he was joking around, he was also dead serious, and she _had_ promised to accompany him that night if he took care of himself and his injury.

“Right,” she backed away and busied herself with smoothing the sheet on the bed he had lied on. “Unless something comes up as I told Mikoto-san. Ah, actually, a question about that,” she eyed him with a small frown, “How formal is it going to be? Like, do I have to wear a kimono? Would a dress be fine? I’ve never attended a clan wedding, except when I was a kid and some cousin of Ino’s got married.”

Sakura didn’t flinch when his warm hand clasped her shoulder. He squeezed and gave her a reassuring look, “Itachi is the heir of the Uchiha so pretty formal, I’d say, but I don’t think there’ll be a requirement on people’s attire apart from our clan members and that’s because it’s tradition more than anything else. Besides, you’ll look great no matter what, so don’t worry about it.”

“A kimono, then…”

“Wear a dress. Just tell me the color so we can match somehow.”

Sakura grabbed his hand again to help him to the living room, “So, if I choose pink, you’ll find a pink kimono as well?”

“Obviously,” he replied immediately. “It would also piss off some relatives and I’m sure Izumi-chan will find it entertaining.”

The easy mood that they established came crushing down when they finally reached the living room, where Itachi was still waiting, brooding on her couch. Good news, her house was still in one piece. Bad news, if Itachi-san looked upset, then Sasuke would be furious and she’d need to check on him soon.

“Thank you for the hospitality, Sakura-san,” Itachi said and stood, coming to help his cousin. “We’ll take our leave now. Until next time.”

“Take care Itachi-san. And, ah… Shisui, I’ll see you on Monday. Come by around noon, I’ll make sure I have no other appointments.”

He nodded and followed his cousin to the door, sparing a glace towards her bedroom where Sasuke was. “Good luck,” he told her with a small smile, that she appreciated and returned.

Once the front door was closed, Sakura took a deep breath and marched to her room to try and find out what the hell was wrong… again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello evryone and happy holidays to all of you that celebrate them!!🎉
> 
> I had so much fun writing this chapter, especially the scene in Sakura's living room. We get some Team 7 dynamics, a little bit of tension between the Uchiha brothers and also some genuine conversations between Sakura and Shisui. The entire chapter is from Sakura's POV, and I'm thinking of making the next one solely from Shisui's. He'll finally get his cast off and wander around a little bit ;)
> 
> Anyway, I hope you like it! Thank you for reading and I'll be happy to see your comments! Stay safe and have fun these days❤


	8. ...do me a favor?

Shisui closed his eyes tightly and pushed his head further into his pillow. It didn’t do much to drown the voices coming from downstairs. The Uchiha Head house had been a living hell since the morning he and Itachi returned from Sakura’s apartment. Itachi had a complete change of character, yelling to his father, the moment Fugaku returned from the Department.

“Stop trying to dictate Sasuke’s life. Don’t you see you are driving hm further away from us?” his cousin would say.

Usually his father would reply with, “He has a duty to our clan,” or something along those lines and then chaos would erupt, because Itachi cared too much about his little brother and Fugaku…well, his uncle cared as well, but in a different way.

Shisui had no doubt that his uncle loved both his sons, but he couldn’t understand his youngest. Not many could anyway. Sasuke had tried to be a perfect son, just like Itachi and make his father and the clan proud, but he got tired of it at some point. Or he simply realized that he didn’t need to try so hard to appease them, since he already had a team and friends that accepted him without him having to change who he was.

Fugaku wasn’t happy with Sasuke and the fact that he had abandoned both their house and his Police duties for the past week. Yes, he loved his son, but he was also the Uchiha clan Head. His sons’ actions reflected on him, his family and the entire clan. So, they had to be perfect, act perfect, have the perfect mission records, the perfect friends, the perfect lovers and all that bullshit, that Shisui honestly had given up a _long_ time ago.

It was refreshing in a way to see Itachi acting so unlike himself and his father was also slowly coming to terms that Sasuke was his own person. Shisui thought that Fugaku-oji wasn’t mad about that, but for all the crap the Elders and some clansmen were whispering behind his back. All their loud yelling was annoying, but he could put up with it. What he absolutely hated, though, was that his aunt had been crying her heart out all day long, until her body couldn’t possibly handle the strain anymore and she’d fall into a fitful sleep each night.

He was tired of trying to calm Itachi, speak carefully and honestly to his uncle and try to cheer up his aunt Mikoto.

So damn tired of all their family drama and his own fucked up life.

Blinking his eyes open again, he saw the clock hanging on the opposite wall and allowed a small smile to stretch his lips. It was Monday, and in just a few hours, he’d be free of the cast and crutches, finally able to return to his own home, roam the streets at night and drink his worries away.

He got up and carefully changed his clothes, smoothed his unruly hair and made his way downstairs, ignoring the two men screaming in front of each other’s faces. He found Mikoto-oba in the kitchen and kissed her tear-soaked cheeks. “Good morning,” he smiled and sat to have his tea and some breakfast. “Did you sleep well, oba-san?”

She smiled something too terrible to be a smile, “How are you, Shisui-kun?”

“You know,” he leaned closer, “Sakura will be happy to see you one of these days. You know where she lives after all and your onigiri will be appreciated.”

Both by her and her son, he didn’t say, but she understood.

“Do you think he’d want to see me?”

He nodded smiling, “As stubborn as that boy is, you are his weakness. I bet he’s missed seeing your dazzling smile, just as much as the rest of us.”

“Such a charmer,” and for the first time in so many days, her eyes shined with more than tears. “You’re going to see Sakura-chan today, aren’t you?” with his nod, she continued, “Could you ask her if…”

“I will.”

“Thank you, dear. Thank you so much.”

He smiled, devoured his breakfast and stood up to hug her. “Itachi!” he roared so that he could be heard above his uncle’s voice, “We’re leaving.”

* * *

Getting to the hospital with a sulking Itachi was a struggle on its own, and he genuinely wished he had full mobility of his limbs, so that he could escape the dark aura his cousin was emitting.

When they reached the front desk, Shisui sighed in relief and grinned at the pretty nurse, “Hi, sweetheart, I have an appointment with doctor Haruno, is she available?”

His smile turned to a smirk when he saw the woman’s blush coloring her cheeks. “O-oh, Uchiha-san, y-yes, she just came out of the operation room,” clearing her throat, she pushed her hair back and leaned forward, so that he could get a better view of her cleavage. “I believe Haruno-sensei entered the nurse’s conference room. It’s just down the left corridor.”

“Thank you,” he leaned down, admiring her luscious breasts before reading her nametag, “Maya-chan. See you around,” he gave a playful wink and beckoned Itachi to follow him.

“You’re such a pervert,” Itachi commented lowly.

He chuckled, “Well, I _am_ horny as fuck, dear cousin, so let me have some fun. You know I don’t really mean business with Sakura’s nurses, because then I’ll have the Hokage, Shizune-san and our little Sakura herself using me as a punching bag.”

His cousin didn’t reply, but Shisui could feel his disappointed frown even without looking at him.

They walked towards where the cute Maya-chan directed them but stopped when they heard angry voices from the inside. Shisui had to roll his eyes – it really seemed that drama followed him everywhere – but quickly his attention zeroed to the room when he realized it was Sakura who had been screaming.

“– and you tell me you left him to die because a shinobi had sprained his _ankle_? You seriously thought that a fucking minor training accident is more important than examining a person with all the symptoms of a heart attack?!”

There were some softer mumbles before the kunoichi spoke again.

“Yes, he was a _civilian_ and you are _doctors,_ are you not? Listen to me and you will listen well, I don’t care if it’s a shinobi or a civilian, a clan member or not, I don’t care if it is a child or an older person, _HELL_ I don’t give a damn if it’s the Hokage or a genin! You will treat everyone based on the _severity_ of the situation, not their rank, neither their status in this village. Am I clear?”

There was a chorus of defeated ‘yes’ and Shisui glanced at Itachi, who had been staring at the door with a frown.

“You were all picked to work in the hospital because we thought you had adequate knowledge and training. You are here to treat, to heal, to care for the people who need your skills, but if you think you can play Kami, then I have news for you. You are not! Kasumi! You come from a civilian background and I personally handpicked you to work by my side, so what happened? Fusao? Chiya?”

No one replied verbally and Shisui could feel the steady KI leaking from the Hokage’s praised apprentice. He winced, feeling sorry for whoever had to stand in front of her, but then he couldn’t refuse that she was right in her anger.

Another voice rose then, not as loud in volume, but just as agitated. “Has anyone talked to the patient’s family yet?” Shisui realized that it was Shizune-san.

“I will go and try to deal with your mess,” Sakura growled again, and the door was flung open suddenly, making both Uchiha flinch back. The pink-haired woman was still clad in her operation scrubs, hair pulled back in a tight ponytail and the blood on her sleeves was just as hard to miss as the darkness under her eyes. She paused when she saw them, but then turned to focus on the unhinged door. She sighed and leaned it carefully to the wall, as Shisui watched with raised eyebrows.

“Hi,” she told them, still red in the face from all the yelling, “I’m sorry but something came up. Could you wait for 10 minutes?”

“Of course, Sakura. Take your time,” he replied immediately and gave a small smile, knowing she’d need nothing more than that in her state. She nodded back, just when Shizune-san exited the room and inclined her head at them.

“Sakura-chan,” she said gently and dropped her hand on Sakura’s shoulder, “I will go to inform Tsunade-sama of this.”

Taking a deep breath, the med-nin eyed down the hallway before her jade eyes turned to steel, “Good. I don’t know what punishment shishō will give them, but assuming they don’t get fired, I want them back to training until they learn how to do their job _properly_.”

The dark-haired woman nodded, “I will be back soon.”

The two Uchiha and Sakura watched her leave, before the latter called out, “Moegi-chan!” and a teenager with orange hair emerged from the room.

“Yes, Sakura-sensei.”

She pointed at Shisui and Itachi, “Can you show them to my office? And please bring a cast saw there. I need to…”

The younger girl bobbed her head up and down, “Don’t worry sensei, I will handle it.”

Sakura’s whole frame relaxed slightly and looked at the girl fondly, “Thanks, Moegi-chan.” Then she looked inside the room they had come out from, “Do something about them,” she gestured back and with a strained smile, she walked away.

Itachi and Shisui exchanged a look and simultaneously turned to look at the three doctors still in the conference room. Shisui faintly remembered seeing them around the hospital and couldn’t hide his grimace when one of them heaved a sigh and said, “Fucking hell, she thinks she’s someone because the Hokage trained her.”

“Stop…” one of the women said with tears on her cheeks, but Moegi cut her off.

“Hey!” the girl’s voice boomed in irritation, “You better watch your words about Sakura-sama. She’s the best medic there is, on par with Tsunade-sama at this point! I hope you understand that you’re all fucking lucky your insides aren’t sprawled all over the room.”

“We followed protocol. A shinobi has…”

“A shinobi has priority when their injuries are severe, yes. But a sprained ankle could hardly pass as such injury, right? Go do some paperwork before Shizune-san returns with the Hokage’s decision.”

The only man amongst them sneered down at her, “You’re turning just like that bitch.”

“Is the bitch you’re referring to, Haruno Sakura?” Shisui asked with no less animosity than he would show an enemy shinobi. “Need I remind you that she’s not only your boss, but one of the most esteemed shinobi in the village?”

“You should show some respect to your superiors,” Itachi agreed from beside him. “Sakura-san had been right to speak as harshly as she did and what you need to do is accept her judgement, not spit profanities behind her back, like cowards.”

“Exactly,” the girl, Moegi, glowered at them. “You let a man die and you’re trying to fault my sensei? Get lost before she comes back and punches you all the way to Suna.” Without waiting for a reply, she turned on her heel and gestured at the Uchiha, “Follow me, please.”

Shisui watched the girl huff as she walked in front of them towards the elevators. Clearly, she was furious, and he didn’t even need to activate his Sharingan to notice that her chakra had been moving wildly in her body. “So, you are Sakura’s… apprentice?”

“Yes,” she said and turned to face them as they waited for the elevator doors to open. “One of the two she has chosen to teach, not just about medical ninjutsu, but her fighting style as well,” she smiled proudly and titled her head to the side, “You’re too familiar with my sensei.”

Shisui hid a laugh behind a cough and nodded, “I’ve known Sakura-cha… Sakura, since she was a genin. We both have,” he motioned towards Itachi.

Moegi hummed, “I know Itachi-san, he’s Sasuke-senpai’s brother and Sakura-sensei likes him. She says that he’s a perfect patient. That is a great compliment,” she added with a soft glare before either could say anything and turned to enter the elevator when it reached the main floor.

Shisui and Itachi followed and when the doors closed, and his cousin smiled at her, “I do take it as such. You said that you were one of the two apprentices Sakura-san has taken. May I ask who the other is?”

“Oh, yeah, it’s Hanabi-chan. Hyūga Hanabi.”

“Really?” Shisui raised an eyebrow to that. There had been quite an uproar a couple of years ago when Hinata-san had given her position as the rightful heiress of the Hyūga Clan to her younger sister. And that younger sister, the next Head of the Hyūga was Sakura’s apprentice. Interesting.

She nodded, “Hanabi-chan and I requested to be taught by Sakura-sama,” she said with a light blush, “and she accepted after she tested us! It was the best day of my life.”

“You seem to have a crush on your sensei!” Shisui teased, but the girl only scowled at him in return.

“I respect Sakura-sama more than I respect anyone,” she said heatedly. “Do you know what it takes for us, civilian-born shinobi and even worse, civilian-born _kunoichi_ , to be taken seriously? I doubt that since you’re both Uchiha. We have no clan to back us up, no one to prepare us for what this life is about and no one to teach us seriously, unless we show extreme talent. Sakura-sama has been my idol for years, because just like me, she came from a simple civilian family and rose to be one of the strongest kunoichi across the Nations. People respect her, not because of her clan’s name, but because she has worked hard to accomplish everything that she has now!”

She breathed heavily after her outburst, but didn’t stop there, “Haruno Sakura is respected, recognized, feared, loved and every young kunoichi who wants to make a name of themselves, looks up to her. Just the fact that she would give _me_ a chance, is… incredible. Hanabi-chan has always been skilled and she works hard, don’t doubt that” she shook her head and dropped her eyes to her feet, “but I am just Moegi. My father is a simple shoemaker, and my mother works as a waitress. I am the first shinobi in the family.”

Not for the first time in his life Shisui felt… privileged. Sure, he was deemed a prodigy, just like Itachi, but he knew that being part of the Uchiha clan was a great source of respect; respect he wasn’t sure he’d get if he hadn’t been born with a dōjutsu and a white and red fan stitched on his clothes. Even his ANBU recruitment happened _because_ he was an Uchiha first and then due to his skills.

“Sakura-san had been the underdog in her team for years and we can all agree that she has reached their level, because she never gave up,” Itachi spoke thoughtfully then, “You have much to learn under her care, Moegi-san. Do your best.”

Shisui nodded at his cousin’s words, “I could give you many examples of comrades, who just like Sakura came from civilian or low-ranked shinobi families and made it. I could also give you examples of those who hailed from a clan, like us, and never achieved for greatness because they were content with just their family’s name.” Patting her head, Shisui gave her a small smile, “I believe that anyone has the ability to get stronger, better and create a name for themselves if given the opportunity. And by that, I mean that you need to work hard and _demand_ that opportunity, because it’s doubtful it will simply be handed to you. That’s what Sakura did, she demanded to have it and now you do, Moegi-chan. What matters is what you do with it.”

The doors opened again, and the girl made to exit, but hung back for a minute, eyes wide and teary, “Thank you,” she told them both and walked outside, once more gesturing to follow her.

They were led to an office that Shisui had never been in before. It was bigger than he would imagine, the walls were painted the same white as the rest of the hospital but filled bookcases and framed photographs were taking more of their space. The desk was littered with scrolls, books, notes and patient files. There was a small red sofa and a coffee table close to the window and a hospital cot on one side of the room. Sakura must take some patients in her office as well then.

“Take a seat,” Moegi said and gestured towards the sofa and the two chairs in front of the desk. “Ah, Uchiha-san…”

“Shisui,” he provided smiling.

“Yes, Shisui-san, it would be better if you lie on the cot. Sakura-sensei will be here soon. I need to bring the cast saw,” she made to bow, but for some reason she paused and straightened up, “Excuse me,” she said and left the room.

Shisui looked imploringly at his cousin who smiled softly after the teenager, “Sasuke has told me that Sakura-san never bows down to anyone. It was something Tsunade-sama instructed her to do and she might have passed it down to her apprentices.”

“Ah,” Shisui let out and moved to one of the walls in order to look at the photos. Some of them were with Tsunade-sama and Shizune-san, others with Sakura and her friends, or her hospital colleagues. There was also a picture of her team – Yamato and Sai included – and one with her parents. In that one Sakura couldn’t have been older than 15 or 16 and was standing in the middle, holding a rolled scroll while all three of them wore matching proud smiles.

Itachi joined him in observing the framed photos and smiled gently at one where Naruto and his brother were sleeping on the sofa located in the office, they were standing in.

“Come, get on the cot.”

Shisui did as instructed and laid his leg straight, waiting for the pink-haired woman. It was Moegi who came back only a short time later and left the cast saw next to him, before stating that she had to leave and see to her work. Itachi made himself comfortable on the red sofa and picked a magazine that had been lying on the coffee table to look through.

Both snapped their head up when the door opened again, and Sakura walked inside with heavy feet. She had changed out of her scrubs and was wearing a simple red dress under her white coat.

“I’m sorry to keep you waiting. I know we said noon, but –”

“It’s okay Sakura, we understand,” he said, but frowned at her forced smile. “Are you okay?”

She sighed and moved to her desk, removing her coat and draped it over her chair. “Yes, great. My week started beautifully,” she gave a humorless laugh and moved behind her desk, opening a cabinet. Then she approached the cot Shisui was on and dropped a file next to his body. “How are you two? It’s been a while since we last spoke.”

“Could have been better,” Itachi said evenly, but didn’t elaborate.

Shisui could have laughed, but he didn’t, “Let’s just say, the past few days have been stressful.”

“I hope everything is okay,” her jade eyes moved between the two as pink eyebrows furrowed together, “Please tell me there is no problems with your Sharingan and no one is sick, or injured or – wait, is there a problem with the wedding?”

“Nothing of the sort, Sakura-san. Just some… family issues.”

“Oh,” she looked away, chewing her lip, “Because of Sasuke? I’m sorry but I don’t think he’s ready to come home yet.”

Itachi nodded, “I understand.”

Shisui remembered his conversation with his aunt and raised his hand to grasp Sakura’s. “Would you do me a favor, Sakura? Mikoto-ba-san has not been doing so well. Do you think there would be a chance she could speak with Sasuke?”

She was slightly taken aback, but soon her eyes grew tender. “Tell her that she’s always welcomed to my house and if Sasuke happens to be there,” she shrugged before giving him a wink.

He laughed and kissed her hand, taking great pleasure at the faint blush on her cheeks, “You’re the best, you know that? An angel – of destruction, mostly, but still an absolute angel!”

“Shisui…” she growled and pulled her hand away, but there was a small upturn of her lips. “Alright are you ready for your cast to be off?”

* * *

Walking through the streets of Konoha at night, alone and without the fucking crutches after a month, was truly an ode to freedom for Shisui.

As soon as Sakura had taken off the cast, she had led him to another room for x-rays and then tested his mobility. They made a plan for his motion therapy sessions, but she assured him he would be able to walk fine even before that. Running and training were still not advised for another week or two, but he could work with that.

After having dinner with Itachi and his parents, Shisui picked up his things from the Head house and returned to his own. He showered and marveled the silence around him, before it became too much, and he decided to go out for a drink.

Even before he entered the Tipsy Shuriken, he knew it was packed. Unusual for a Monday night, but he mused that some teams could have returned from missions. He was welcomed by the smell of alcohol and the smile of a waitress. The bartender was a little preoccupied, but still managed to wave at him and as Shisui looked around, he thought he was probably right. Aside from a newly returned team – as their torn and slightly bloodied uniforms indicated – there was a group of young chūnin and some jōnin in the establishment.

“Hey Yuna,” he greeted the bartender and she smiled back.

“Haven’t seen you around in a while, Shisui. Your usual?”

He nodded and she made quick work in putting a drink in front of him. He began sipping his Firewhiskey, but soon noticed someone calling for him. Turning around he found Shiranui Genma waving his hand at him, so he slipped off his stool and joined him on his table.

“Where the hell have you been, boy?” his first ANBU captain asked, before he shoved a shot in his hand, not waiting for an answer.

Shisui downed his shot, letting the sweet alcohol burn his throat and washed his mouth with his own drink. “I got injured pretty bad on the last trip outside. Still recovering actually.”

“Well shit! Who caught up to you?” Genma slurred and motioned for another round of shots.

“It was a shitshow, don’t ask,” he sighed and Genma, understanding Shisui’s apprehension, didn’t.

Instead, he pushed another shot on him when the waitress left them on the table, “Seeing a lot of cute nurses around then?” he smirked and Shisui had to chuckle.

“Just Sakura,” he admitted, “Not that I saw her too often, but she’s been my medic for the past month.”

“That girl’s a goldmine,” the tokujō winked and downed his shot.

Shisui raised an eyebrow, “Oh, is she?”

“Listen Shisui, if she wasn’t Hatake’s kid and the Hokage’s golden student, I’d make a move. I’ve seen her here, dancing, flirting, being anything _but_ the prim and proper little medic everyone thinks she is and _damn_ it’s hot!”

“Don’t let Shizune-san hear that,” Shisui snorted, refusing to acknowledge the spike of… well, something dark and unfamiliar that rose inside him on Genma’s words over Sakura.

Genma shoved his glass away in irritation, “What of Shizune? We broke up, so she’s got nothing to say.”

Well, that was news to Shisui. Shizune-san had actually been the only woman that made the notorious womanizer settle down for the past year or so and now they broke up? He smelled drama and wanted nothing to do with it, but Shisui was also curious.

“You called quits? How come?”

“Couldn’t have done anything different, I guess,” he said and brough a senbon out, to chew between his teeth per his habit. “She told me she’d leave with Tsunade-sama after Hatake takes over the hat. She can’t leave her shishō,” he sneered.

“Oh,” Shisui let out dumbly, “So, you were actually planning a future with Shizune-san.”

“Shisui, you and I get along, because we like doing a lot of the same shit but let me tell you this and remember my words,” Genma leaned closer and slinged his arm around Shisui’s neck, “A hundred women would never be able to even compare with the _one_ who’s worth it. If you find a woman like that, don’t be an idiot and let her go,” he retracted to his previous seat and grabbed his beer, “I wouldn’t have, but if Shizune wants to leave Konoha, then I’m not gonna force her to stay.”

“Your thinking process doesn’t make much sense,” Shisui told him honestly and eyed two female chūnin approaching their table.

Genma gave him a humorless chuckle, “You’ve never been in love, that’s why you don’t get it. Just wait till then.”

“So, you take a lot of dangerous missions, senpai?” the blonde purred and inched even closer to Shisui.

He hummed and let his eyes roam down on her body, “I do.”

She giggled then and a strand of hair fell over her eyes. Shisui raised his fingers to brush it behind her ear, making sure to trace the side of her cheek and her neck as he brought his hand back. The blonde – Miwako – blushed prettily and boldly let her smaller hands rest on Shisui’s thighs.

“Don’t you think it’s hot in here?” she breathed and eyed him seductively, “Why don’t we go outside?”

Shisui smirked and pulled his wallet to pay for his drinks and hers. He gave Genma, whose hands were preoccupied on the other chūnin’s waist, a pat on the shoulder and led Miwako outside.

She didn’t waste much time stepping into his personal space and likewise, he didn’t waste time in kissing her plump lips. When they broke away to breath, Miwako took his hand and led him down the street, “My apartment’s close,” she said.

As it turned out, her apartment was indeed close, only three buildings away from the bar and they climbed on the fourth floor, exchanging kisses and touches, over and under their clothes.

Shisui waited until she unlocked her door and they both entered the apartment, resuming their kiss. She was a tall kunoichi, with a well-endowed body that Shisui couldn’t keep his hands off. Not paying much attention to his surroundings, he grabbed her thighs and pulled her up until she linked her legs around his waist, kissing the tender skin of her neck. Guided by her pleased moans and the way she arched closer to him, he continued touching and exploring her body.

“My room is – ah, yes right there!” she mewled in his ear and he paused briefly to give her time to repeat herself. “My bedroom is at the end of the hall.”

Like a man on a mission, Shisui hoisted her up more securely and moved towards the directions she had told him, while the blonde returned the favor and left her own marks on his neck. Once in her room, Shisui let her down on the bed and removed his shirt before he joined on top of her.

She pulled him in for another kiss and Shisui began raising her shirt, letting his fingers travel up on her soft stomach, before he completely discarded the cotton material on the floor.

Miwako undid her bra, as Shisui started unzipping his pants and he slowly pulled her skirt down while kissing her firm breasts. When he took her nipple on his mouth, he was rewarded by her breathy moans, which in turn made him hard and desperate for release.

Her hands on his torso, his back, his thighs and closer to where he needed, were fire and sin he hadn’t felt in a long time.

When her palm cupped him over his underwear, Shisui knew that there wouldn’t be much foreplay. Not that he minded. He didn’t have the patience for it in his state, anyway.

He removed her panties in one quick motion and his fingers found her bundle of nerves, rubbing small circles. The blonde’s head fell back on the mattress and her new position made it easier for Shisui to kiss her collarbones and lick around her round breasts, teasing her nipples, just like his fingers teased around her folds.

“Senpai,” she moaned lowly, buckling her hips to chase after the feeling of his fingers.

_‘Right, no foreplay.’_

Giving in to her wishes, Shisui eased a finger inside her sleek walls, before bringing another, opening his eyes to watch the young woman trashing on top of her sheets. A blushed face had always been one of his turn-ons and Miwako had an endearing flush all the way to her neck.

She reached beneath his underwear and Shisui understood. He leaned over to grab his pants at the end of the bed and pulled out a condom before he freed himself from the last layer of clothing between them.

“Spread your legs more,” he whispered in her ear and kissed her sloppily as he sheathed himself inside her, their mouths swallowing both their groans.

Shisui sat up on his knees and started with a slow pace. Letting his hands roam her body, he reached one of her calves and brought her leg over his shoulder. The new position allowed him to drive in her faster, harder and Miwako seemed to be rather pleased with it, judging from her incoherent mumbled between every moan.

One thing he appreciated about being with kunoichi was their flexibility. Of course, civilians had their own advantages in bed, one of them being their willingness to please their partners thoroughly, but with a fellow ninja…well even some of the dubious Icha-Icha positions were somewhat achievable.

“Fuck,” Shisui groaned out as the blonde’s walls squeezed tighter around his cock. The little tease noticed and did it again with a smirk. He chuckled as she pulled him in for a heated kiss and the moment her arms loosened around his neck, he changed to a punishing fast pace.

“Oh, Kami… don’t stop, don’t –”

He wouldn’t, but when she put it that way…

Shisui grabbed one of her bouncing breasts in his hand, flickering the perked nipple with his thumb, while the other slipped between their bodies to latch on her clit.

The kunoichi let out a strangled squeal and her hips began moving against his in fervor. Shisui wouldn’t last long with how she was clenching around him and it had been _such a long time_ since he had last been with a woman. He closed his eyes, groaning as each thrust became harder.

The bed under them creaked and squeaked against the floor and with a loud cry, Miwako came undone under him. Shisui grabbed her hips and pumped inside her a few more times, before he felt his own release hitting so hard, that for a moment all he saw was white spots.

Both spent, they laid on the bed, breathing heavily, but eventually Shisui got up and asked where the bathroom was.

“…hall, second door,” she mumbled languidly.

He tossed the condom on the trashcan when he found the bathroom and cleaned himself with some tissue. As to not seem like an asshole, he wet a towel and brought it back to the bedroom, for Miwako to clean up as well.

She thanked him with a smile and propped on her elbows when he began gathering his clothes, “You could stay, you know,” she told him and Shisui heard the hope in her voice.

He continued pulling on his clothes and gave her a lopsided smile when he was done, “I don’t really do that.”

She schooled her expression well and gave him a nod, “Well, I had fun.”

“Me too. Goodnight, Miwako-chan,” he said cheerily and exited the room, put on his shoes and was out of the door.

 _So much for not being an asshole,_ he sighed _,_ but really, he couldn’t do otherwise. It was just a one-time thing and sure, if they ever saw each other again and she was willing, maybe there would be more times, but Shisui simply was a ‘no strings attached’ person.

Genma’s words from earlier that night echoed in his thoughts as he walked through the empty streets of Konoha, _“A hundred women would never be able to even compare with the_ one _who’s worth it. You’ve never been in love, that’s why you don’t get it. Just wait till then.”_

He had to scoff. Falling in love… he wasn’t a teenager anymore. At 28, Shisui was all too aware that one day he wouldn’t return from a mission. By shinobi standards, he was _old,_ and he had no desire in hoping for something he knew he couldn’t invest in, no matter how much the clan Elders pestered him for marriage and children.

Maybe that was one of the reasons he didn’t do it anyway. Seeing their faces going from red to purple as they yelled at him, was a joy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiiii!!  
> I know, I know I haven't updated in a while, but my life's been a little hectic recently and exam period starts next week. 
> 
> Anyway, enough of that! Here's chapter 8 with a little bit of Uchiha drama, Shisui being so done with the Head family and a little mention of Genma being his past ANBU captain and that they're somewhat close. Also, the little scene with Sakura yelling at everyone. I wanted to put that in her POV, but it'd be a longs ass chapter then, so here we go. Moegi and Hanabi are going to be around in the future as Sakura's apprentices, too.  
> Hehe, Moegi is a little protective of her sensei, ain't she? I wonder what she'll think later on about Sakura and Shisui as they come closer hmmm
> 
> Shisui is finally free to roam around and he's getting back in the game if you know what i mean ;) 
> 
> I hope you enjoy!! ^ω^


	9. ...stop looking at me like that?

A deep sigh left her lips as soon as she closed her apartment door behind her. Sasuke tilted his head to observe her for a moment, but all she did was to shake her head and he dropped the matter, moving to the kitchen to make them some tea.

Sakura had a day off after a nearly 53-long shift. It had been a crazy few days, and every time she had managed to return home to rest, either her pager would go off indicating an emergency, or an ANBU agent would be at her window, to ask her back to the hospital.

After a much needed 9-hour sleep – granted she could have done with way more after the physical and mental exhaustion she had been in – Naruto and Sai had bundled up in her apartment, reminding her of the promise she’d made to her parents for lunch with her team at the Haruno household.

No matter how much sleep she needed to replenish, Sakura had shot up from her bed, showered and got dressed in less than 20 minutes. She had missed her parents and although her teammates – Naruto specifically – didn’t need her be present to visit her childhood house, a promise was a promise. Sakura also knew that her parents had been dying to see not only her, but her teammates as well. 

Not that they had always been close, but through the years, the lines of camaraderie, friendship and family had bled together. It was no secret that the Haruno couple had wanted more children, but due to her mother’s miscarriages after they had Sakura, they simply stopped trying.

That was probably the reason she had been raised as sheltered and spoiled when she had been younger.

Having such close relationship with her teammates, opened the door for her parents to have more “children” and especially her father was thrilled to be able to joke around with the boys, even if it was only Naruto who appreciated Kizashi’s sense of humor and his weird puns.

They always loved Ino as well and throughout the years, Mebuki would make sure to make shopping spree appointments with her daughter, the Yamanaka heiress and sometimes Ino’s mother as well.

Sakura loved her parents. She did and she was grateful that they had persisted in breaking down Sasuke’s seemingly cold image ever since they became a team, accepting Sai later on with warm smiles and always making sure that Naruto had gotten at least half a dozen containers of leftovers so he wouldn’t just live off ramen for a couple of days.

And she had missed seeing them, talking to them and simply accepting their love and care with her ever so busy schedule, between hospital work, research, missions and being Tsunade’s assistant when Shizune had her own hospital shifts.

So, really Sakura adored Mebuki and Kizashi, but sometimes they could be a bit much. Like earlier that day.

Since Sasuke had not visited them as often after their breakup a couple of years ago, they were ecstatic that he was around their house once more. They even asked if they were back together with so much joy, that her mother was practically clapping her hands and planning for a wedding, resulting in a few minutes of awkwardness from every person in the dining room, when their simultaneous answer had been ‘no’.

Then of course, they had asked her when she was planning to settle down and give them a grandchild or five.

Sakura loved her parents, adored them and was grateful for everything they had done for her, but she wished just for once that they recognized her worth besides being a young and fertile woman. Of course, they were proud for everything she had achieved both as a medic and as a kunoichi, but they were simple civilians. They never really agreed with her career as a shinobi, especially after she began climbing the ranks and deep down they were hoping that their only daughter would stop going to missions and work full time as a doctor in the hospital, settle down with a good husband – or wife, her parents weren’t as traditional and Sakura remembered many embarrassing conversation when she was a teenager, of them telling her that there was no judgement to who she loved, a man or a woman – and have a family.

Those conversations were something like a running joke in her team and the few times Kakashi-sensei and Yamato had come to her family’s dinner nights, they would joke about it and alleviate the atmosphere, with Naruto butting in and saying that they would all have to approve of a partner for Sakura and that it would be a long process.

But Kakashi had still been in Suna, meeting with the Kazekage, their council, their Daimyo and other dignitaries and Yamato-taichou had been sent on a mission a couple of days ago.

As such, lunch with her parent has been plain awkward.

Sakura pushed her hair back and removed her shoes, peeling the sweater off the moment she stepped into the living room. _Chamomile_ , she mused as the scent travelled out of the kitchen and smiled. Sasuke knew she’d need to calm her nerves. She joined him, pushing herself to sit on the kitchen counter while he took a seat on the small table and passed her the tea in her favorite strawberry mug.

That bastard was still sending her some amused glances, and even the mild chamomile warming her throat didn’t stop her from launching her slipper to his head. He ducked of course, but then raised one hand in surrender and Sakura went back to enjoy the soft breeze coming in from the window.

“I’m going to Tenten’s in a couple of hours,” she informed him.

Sasuke nodded ever so slightly, “Dobe said something about getting drinks tonight.”

“Yeah,” she smiled, “That’s sort of why I’m going to Tenten’s. Ino’s idea to start earlier and meet everyone else in the bar. Damn, I’m so glad tomorrow is my _official_ day off.”

“Wait for an emergency,” he snorted, but the way he looked at her was bleeding with concern, “I hope you plan on having dinner before the shots start.”

Sakura laughed, slipping off the counter to kiss the top of his head, “You’re adorable. I think I’m rubbing off on you, Sasuke-kun,” she teased and took a seat next to him, ignoring his pouty scowl. “I will, don’t worry,” she said more seriously, “I’m not trying to burn myself out, but you know how it is.”

“Hn.”

“So, should I forget my keys tonight?” she wiggled her eyebrows and was greeting by a glare without any real heat behind it.

Setting his mug down, he kept his eyes on the still warm tea, “We broke up.”

“What? Why?”

It was no secret – well, it was, but not from team 7 – that Sasuke had been seeing a civilian woman for the past few months. Her name was Kiyoko, a pretty brunette with big blue eyes and a no-nonsense attitude, but she occasionally cracked a few witty jokes that had Sakura appreciating her even more. Sasuke brought her on two team dinners and even a spar session, so they had thought that it was getting serious.

“The clan found out.”

Chills ran down her spine at those words. The Uchiha clan was old-fashioned to the core and even if they had modernized their traditions up a notch in the previous years, Sakura knew how they were pushing Sasuke to choose a partner from within the clan. He was one of the heirs after all and even though they had let _their_ relationship run for as long as it did, she was aware of all the whispers and side-glances they were getting, even to this day.

“What did they do?” she asked, trying not to sound as horrified as she felt inside.

He shrugged, trying to seem nonchalant, but Sakura could read him like an open book. He was everything but that. “Nothing too drastic. A few threats, money for her to migrate to another village in Fire Country and the like.”

She blinked, gaping like a fish, “No.”

“What did you expect?” he asked with a small smirk that momentarily had her fooled in not noticing the anger and hurt in his eyes. “Even if _we_ were still together, nothing would’ve changed.”

Sakura had to snort at that, “Trust me, I am aware. Except from your mother and Itachi-san, pretty much everyone else in your clan hates me.” Then she placed her cup down and grabbed his hand, “I’m sorry about Kiyoko. I don’t think I’ll ever understand, since I don’t come from a clan, but I really am sorry.”

Sasuke kept his eyes averted, but after a few seconds turned his hand so he could squeeze hers.

“Thank you.”

* * *

Sakura hissed and had half the mind not to use her chakra enhanced strength to punch her best friend square on the face, “Ow, you bitch! That hurt like hell.”

“Stop moving, Forehead,” Ino rolled her blue eyes and laid another waxing sheet on the pinkette’s leg. “I swear, you can take swords and a hundred kunai all over your body, but _this_ has you whining like a fucking child.”

Tenten gave a hearty laugh, but she too winced when Hinata stripped off the wax from the back of her thigh. Sakura scowled at both, “Shut up,” she only managed to mumble out and continued watching the cheesy romance movie on Tenten’s TV.

The opening of the front door had all four of them whipping their heads towards it, only to see Neji coming in with two bags of delicious smelling food. He paused momentarily as he took the image of the four girls in an almost risqué state of undress, but he pushed himself inside and deposited the bags on the counter.

“I found the delivery man outside,” he told them, politely averting his eyes.

His girlfriend chuckled and raised herself from the cushion she was laying on, “Oh, thanks, baby. Will you join us?”

The Hyūga arched a perfect eyebrow, “I’ll stay clear from torture techniques, thank you.”

Sakura couldn’t help her laughter at his joke and internally agreed with him. Why hadn’t she just shaved? Ah, yes, it was Ino’s idea to try these new wax strips she had found in the market.

“I meant join us to eat. Besides, I rather like you a little hairy here and there,” Tenten said with a smirk that had Hinata squealing and Neji’s ears turning red.

“I did _not_ need t-to hear that,” Hinata mumbled, covering her eyes and Ino found immense amusement in that, but Sakura managed to kick her on the ribs to save them all the mortification that would no doubt come with her comment.

Neji cleared his throat and came closer to kiss his girlfriend on the cheek, pointedly not looking at the others, “I just came to change. I will be meeting Lee for a spar in a while.”

Tenten hummed and waved him off to do his thing, before nudging Hinata to continue with the waxing. Once Neji was in the bedroom, Ino allowed herself to roar in laughter and then smacked Sakura’s arm, “Bitch, your kicks sting.”

“I’d hope so,” she stuck her tongue out and sat up to examine her friends work on her legs. They were still a little red and sticky, but completely hair-free, so she guessed these strips did their job well.

She would still stick to a razor though.

“Now ladies, do we want to wax anywhere else?” Ino asked with a wiggle of her eyebrows, gesturing her own private area under her shorts.

Poor Hinata almost choked on air and Sakura blushed, but vehemently shook her head. She didn’t want those things _anywhere_ near her crotch. She’d take razor burns over _that_!

Tenten actually seemed to be thinking of it, but eventually she agreed that it would only be more painful. “Can I keep a couple though? Maybe I’ll try it out some time.” Ino shrugged and passed a handful of wax strips her way.

Neji emerged from the room then, dressed in some simple training clothes and said his goodbyes.

“See you later,” Sakura called along with the other girls. When the door shut close, Hinata picked the bottle of oil that she and Ino had used to take the sticky residue from their legs and dropped a heavy amount on Tenten’s hands, before passing it to Sakura. It had a pleasant scent and if anything, her legs would smell like sweet coconut and feel smooth to the touch.

Whose touch? She didn’t want to dwell too much on that.

Tenten stood up to bring the yakitori boxes and a few plates, so they could eat in front of the TV, before settling back on the couch, not bothering to wear her pants.

“So,” Ino began after chewing her bite, pushing her blonde ponytail back, “What’s the actual plan for tonight?”

“We eat, start drinking, doll up and hit the streets,” Tenten replied, never tearing her eyes away from the screen. It was one of those typical the-man-saves-the-girl-and-they-kiss type of scenes, that Sakura had to roll her eyes to.

_Even Icha Icha’s better than this shit!_

Hinata hummed and bit on her yakitori stick gingerly. “Shino-kun is on a mission, so he won’t be there.”

“Yeah, and Shika’s still in Suna,” Ino almost pouted, “I think Chōji has patrol duties tonight.”

“Kami, I hate patrolling,” Sakura sighed and was answered by three grunts of agreement. “Well, everyone else is gonna be there though. Who’s on Lee duty?”

No one needed a drunk Lee waltzing around later that night… or any night.

Tenten groaned and pushed herself back on the cushion, “I guess as his teammates, Neji and I.”

“Are we going to talk about how Neji came _here_ to change?” Sakura asked, glancing towards the brunette with a mischievous smile.

She blushed and tried to hide her face, “I mean, it’s closer than the compound.”

“Neji-nii-san spends more time here nowadays than he does at his house.”

“Oh?” Ino perked up, “Are you guys, like living together, or something?”

Tenten shook her head, mood souring, “No, not really. He just…I don’t know,” she sighed, “He doesn’t want to be home more than he has to, I guess. They are still pressuring him for an arranged marriage.”

Sakura drew her eyes away, remembering her earlier conversation with Sasuke. Damn, she was so glad she didn’t belong to a clan.

“It’s so unfair,” she only said and meant it. While her parents might be asking her about her own marriage and future family plans, there was no real pressure and they certainly would never just shove her into a marriage without love.

All three nodded and suddenly Hinata turned towards Ino. The blonde sensing eyes on her tilted her head and then looked down at her plate, “I don’t know.”

Sakura and Tenten exchanged a glance, “What’s going on?”

The Yamanaka gave a long sigh and her shoulders dropped. It was such an unfamiliar sight that made Sakura almost want to pinch herself to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. “I don’t know if – I may be drawn into an arranged marriage as well. Our clan is not as traditional, but politics and all that shit…” she let her words fade away and Sakura could only blink, feeling somewhat numb.

“You _are_ the heiress,” Hinata said softly with a nod.

“If there’s a chance to that, you should break up with Sai,” Sakura said finally, and thick silence enveloped them.

Ino snapped her head to her, expression equally shocked and livid, “What the hell are you talking about, Sakura?”

“No, don’t get mad,” she sighed and gave her a small smile, “You are my best friend and I love you, but we all know that Sai and feelings don’t go well together. If you’re gonna marry someone else in the near future, better break up with him sooner than later.”

“Wow,” Ino leaned back, crossing her arms over her chest, “Your possessiveness is coming out, huh?”

She shook her head, remaining calm, “Pig, Sai is in love with you. You are, and I quote his words not mine, like ‘the light peaking behind heavy clouds’ in his life and let me tell you something,” her green eyes turned colder, if only for a second, “I do not want to watch how devastated he’s going to be if you dump him to get into a political marriage or something along those lines. He’ll understand somewhat, but not truly and I am afraid that he’ll close off to his emotions for good.”

Everyone remained quiet for a while, but Sakura kept her gaze locked with Ino’s watching how her whole demeanor began shifting to something softer. In a move so unlike her, Ino pulled her legs up to her chest and hugged them close. “I think I’m in love with him too,” she whispered. “I want to be with him and I – maybe you’re right. Hurting Sai is the last thing I want to do.”

Reaching to caress Ino’s ponytail, Sakura smiled genuinely, “I know. But really, if you end up breaking his heart, I’m breaking both your arms,” she stated without an ounce of humor, “And before you say anything, Sai got a similar threat.”

“Busybody,” Ino replied under Tenten’s and Hinata’s chuckles, but there was no real malice in it. “Anyway, enough about us. We’re all in perfectly healthy relationships,” her blue eyes travelled towards Tenten for a second, “well, and one secret love affair. What’s up with you?”

Sakura snorted quite unladylike, “Funny of you to assume that I have any time for that.”

“Oh, please, if you were trying for a relationship the entirety of Konoha would already know and start signing up,” Tenten said while setting her empty plate on the coffee table, “Hookups, though…”

Hinata also turned her attention towards Sakura with a sly smile, that the pinkette wanted to smack right off, “Yes, Sakura, how is my teammate doing?”

“You little hoe!” Ino smacked her arm, “You and dog-boy got all dirty again?”

With a groan, Sakura let her head drop back on the couch, “It’s really none of your business, but no. Not for a while, actually.”

“Because Sasuke-san stays with you,” the Hyūga said with an understanding look.

“Partly yes. I mean,” she sighed, “I can’t bring anyone while Sasuke is sleeping next door.”

Tenten hummed, “I know from experience that you’ve got silencing seals in every room of your apartment. He won’t hear anything.”

Cheeks warming pink at her friend’s words, Sakura looked away. It was just one time, that she and Tenten had hooked up sometime after her relationship with Sasuke ended and Sakura realized that she wasn’t specifically attracted only to men.

“Yes, but it’s weird, you know? He’s not only my ex, but my teammate, as well. It’s like having sex right next door to my parents’ bedroom.”

Three identical winces from the girls and she knew that they understood what she meant.

“I’m not saying that I don’t want to,” she continued, “just not in my place, for the foreseeable future. Kami knows that Sasuke would much rather prefer to rip his eyes out than going to stay with Naruto or Sai.”

“I suppose that’s true,” Hinata said softly, “It would also be awkward for me to visit Naruto-kun, if Sasuke-san were there.”

“Visiting Naruto, huh?” Ino teased, “Details, my little innocent lamp. Give me all the juicy details!”

For a moment Sakura feared that the dark-haired woman would pass out from how red her face turned, but she couldn’t exactly resist laughing on Hinata’s embarrassment as she stumbled on her words, telling them that they have not yet been physical, except some experimental touches.

Ino found it all too vanilla for her own tastes and proceeded to educate Hinata on what men loved, “If you go down on him, trust me, he’ll propose the next day. It’s Naruto we’re talking about!” but of course ended her explicit lessons with a hard glare and a “Only when you feel comfortable and if that idiot ever pushes you for more, I’ll bury him six feet under.”

* * *

Sakura tucked the floral embroidered see-through top under her black skirt and readjusted the straps of her plain bralette. She gave herself a once-over on the mirror in Tenten’s bedroom, smoothing her hair and making sure that her eyeliner was as sharp as the tip of a kunai, while Ino was helping Hinata zip her navy dress, making jokes on how it was shorter than what the Hyūga would normally wear.

Tenten was simply lazing on her bed, playing with the double French braids she had styled her hair instead of her signature buns. She had been the first to get ready, throwing a pair of black shorts and a silky green top with spaghetti straps on, while keeping her makeup to a couple coats of mascara and sheer lip-gloss.

Not that she needed more. Tenten always had the clearest skin amongst them – and probably the entire female population of Konoha – making teenage Ino and Sakura hating her guts but asking for tips at any chance they got.

“Are you going to wear the shirt?” Sakura asked Ino, pointing at the light fabric laying on the bed next to Tenten.

The Yamanaka heiress looked down on her lace bodysuit and fitted pants, “Is it too slutty without it?”

Sakura shrugged. Both she and Ino had worn worse and nothing showed underneath the lace anyway. “No,” Tenten replied and Hinata smiled, “I like it a lot.”

“Well, then, I think we’re ready, ladies!”

Tenten sighed a ‘finally’ and pushed them all to the front of her apartment. Sakura pulled on her heeled ankle boots and began walking beside Hinata as they made their way down the stairs and to the busy streets of Konoha.

The moment Sakura and the girls stepped inside the Tipsy Shuriken – about an hour late than the rest of their friends had scheduled and already buzzed from Tenten’s stash of red wine – a cacophony of loud noises and drunken songs reached them, along with the smell of smoke and alcohol and sweat.

Their group was never hard to spot, not with Lee, Naruto and Kiba there and they quickly took the chairs they had left unoccupied for them. Well, Ino chose to forgo the chair and sit right on Sai’s lap, but that was a regular sight. Sakura smoothed her skirt and sat on Neji’s right.

There were already three empty sake bottles on their table, but Sakura was pretty sure the vast majority was consumed by Kiba and her blond teammate, who was already sporting flushed cheeks.

Lee had a strict _‘no alcohol’_ order on his person and Neji was never one to drink too much, preferring a couple glasses of bourbon, when he joined them for a night out. Sasuke enjoyed sake, but he was never a fan of getting wasted, unless there was some kind of challenge going on. It gave him an excuse, of sorts, to let loose and blame his hangover to either Naruto or… well, he always blamed it to Naruto.

Ino and Hinata were fast to order some sweet cocktails when the waitress came over and Tenten as always started with a pint of beer. Sakura ordered her favorite spiced rum, imported from Suna and clinked her glass with Sai’s when it arrived, commending on his great taste for he was drinking the same.

Taking a quick glance around, she spotted a good amount of Konoha shinobi, most of whom she knew. When her eyes landed on the table where their old senseis were – sans Kakashi, who was still in Suna – she gave Gai, Kurenai and Asuma a bright smile, before flipping her middle finger to Genma, who was blowing her kisses from across the room. Anko doubled in laughter, smacking Genma’s arm, before giving her a double thumbs up.

Honestly, she didn’t hate Genma, but Sakura hadn’t been ecstatic when he reverted to his old fuckboy self after he broke up with Shizune. Then again, wasn’t she doing the same after her few failed relationships? It was just sex for her, and although a part of her craved some more romantic intimacy, with feelings and dates and lazy kisses, she was also afraid to seek that out again. Not that she had the time anyway.

_‘Keep telling that to yourself.’_

Sakura shook her head and focused back on her friends, getting in conversation with Neji, about her upcoming medical program. He had found out about it from Hanabi-chan and seemed interested to the prospect of the better political bonds it would create between the Five Great Nations.

Well, Sakura only hoped that it would. That was one of the reasons behind the creation of the open program in the first place. Yes, exchanging multiple medical techniques from all the great nations would be valuable information, but it would also strengthen the trust between them all. If Iwa ever decided to answer her formal request, anyway.

About an hour later and a couple more drinks in, Sakura’s attention caught when a figure approached their table. She turned her head to watch as Shisui leaned over Sasuke, clasping a hand on his younger cousin’s shoulder. Her teammate’s sour expression seemed to dim before he gave a small nod to whatever Shisui had told him and stood up, peering around the bar.

As he walked away, the older Uchiha remained and greeted the present shinobi out of the Konoha 13 as they were known. When his gaze reached Sakura, she watched his grin turning wider, before he took a few sure steps and dropped himself on Ino’s empty chair next to her.

“Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes tonight, Sakura?” he asked as he twisted his body to look at her, scanning her appearance from head to toe.

Sakura sipped from her rum and leaned more into her chair, “Just tonight? What, do I look like a troll usually?”

He laughed and clinked his glass with hers, “You always look beautiful, even with sweat and blood on your scrubs, but it’s been a while since I saw you on a night out and I must say, you look amazing.”

Feeling heat starting to spread on her neck and cheeks, she quickly looked away. Ino was giving her a _look_ , from Sai’s lap, but Sakura didn’t pay her any mind. In fact, the word beautiful was the only thing that seemed to be repeating on her head. No one had called her that in… in a long time.

“I’ll give it to you,” she huffed a shy laugh, “you’re good at this, Shisui.”

“I’m good at what?” he asked innocently, but his smirk spoke volumes. “Want another one?” he nudged her elbow and pointed to her drink.

“Sure,” she answered sheepishly and watched as he raised his hand to get them both fresh drinks.

“Spiced rum, right?”

She wanted to ask how he knew. Maybe he had just smelled it, or he remembered from other times that they had happened to meet at the bar. But why would he remember such an unimportant detail?

 _Get yourself together. He’s just being nice,_ she berated herself and nodded with a smile.

“There’s no drinking your guts challenge today?” he asked after placing the order to a waitress, “I was looking forward to see some of your friends shitfaced.”

Sakura threw her head back as she laughed and then glanced around the table, “It’s still early for that, I’m afraid. Will you join us?”

“Nah,” he smiled and leaned his head on his palm, still having his body twisted to have her in his view. “I don’t think my doctor would approve me getting too drank while I’m still recovering.”

Smothering a smile of her own, she tapped her chin as in thought, “I don’t know. What does your leg have to do with drinking?”

Whatever he meant to say was cut off by the waitress returning with their drinks. Shisui paid for them, even when Sakura argued that he didn’t have to. He only leveled her with a blank stare and grabbed her hand when she made to pull her wallet out from her purse, returning it to the table.

“Thanks,” she told him eventually, accepting the drink he passed her way. “So, who are you here with?”

Shisui jerked his head somewhere behind them, “Yukio was sick of staying cooped in his house, so he invited Itachi and I for some drinks. Izumi-chan and Inuzuka Hana are also with us.”

“Oh,” she perked up and turned over in her seat, searching for the table his company were sitting at and waved excitedly at both women, although she noticed that Itachi-san was absent from their table. “I haven’t seen Izumi-san and Hana-nee in a while!” then she peeked at him curiously, “I didn’t know you and Hana are friends.”

“We’re not,” he replied, bringing his glass away from his lips, “She’s close to Izumi and Itachi though. I think they used to be classmates. Are you two close?”

“Kind of. I mean, she’s Kiba’s sister and I’ve known her since I was young,” Sakura shrugged. “She’s also a medic and we’ve gone to few missions together.”

He nodded, having more of his drink and then gave her another grin, long eyelashes fanning over his cheeks as he blinked slowly, “Did you buy a dress for the wedding?”

Sakura almost groaned aloud, “No,” she admitted, “things have been crazy for a while. Thanks for reminding me, Shisui. Now I feel bad.”

“Why do you feel bad? You still have time.”

She rolled her eyes, “Yes, but it’s a clan wedding. Not to mention that the groom is the heir of said clan. I can’t just,” she waved her hands around to empathize her point, “go dressed up like it’s a regular setting. I really should get a kimono, shouldn’t I?”

“Sakura,” his warm and calloused hand was suddenly cupping her cheek and she felt her entire body stiffen while her face surely reddened a few shades, “you think too much,” Shisui’s smile then lost the sharp edge, turning softer, “I think you’ll look great no matter how you show up.”

“But your clan…”

“Since when do you care about what they have to say?” he asked, leaning closer, “Take it from me, our Elders and some clanmates are royally stuck up. They’ll find something wrong even if you come in the most traditional set of clothes.”

Sakura hated that he was right, but his thumb slowly rubbing her cheek and the corner of her lips, had her unable of forming any kind of response _. He must be drunk,_ she thought somewhat coherently. It must have been the case, for Shisui, no matter how much he always enjoyed teasing her, had never resorted in physical touches during his little game of fake – flirting with her.

A loud clearing of a throat captured their attention then and they both turned towards Naruto, who was glaring at the older Uchiha just shy of unleashing the Kyūbi. “Dude, you’re getting a little too bold with Sakura-chan,” he slurred slightly and leaned over the table to slap Shisui’s hand away from her face, but thankfully Hinata pulled him back to his seat.

Shisui removed it himself though and raised an eyebrow at the blond, “And that’s your problem, because?”

“Naruto, shut it and mind your business,” Sakura seethed when he made to reply, before addressing Shisui, “Sorry, he gets a little overprotective when he’s drunk.”

“It is not a drunk trait,” Sai said then, ignoring Ino’s exasperated look, “We often team up on Sakura’s potential partners to make sure they know their place.”

“Sai!” Naruto whispered-yelled, gesturing to cut it off.

Sakura stared incredulously between them, to Kiba who had been laughing his ass off, the girls and Lee who seemed shocked and Neji, who had the gall to whisper, “You only just found out now?”

In fact, yes, she had just found out. “You did what?” she asked slowly, feeling her ire rising with every heartbeat. “And who’s _we_?”

“Sai, I swear to Kami, do not…” Naruto began saying but Sai simply gave her one of his plastic smiles.

“Naruto, Sasuke and I of course. Ah, but Kakashi-senpai did threaten that Suna nin to never speak to you again unless he wanted to lose both his ears and testicles.”

Very smartly, Ino removed herself from his lap and went to stand next to Hinata, as Sakura rose from her chair. “Not the face, please,” her best friend simply asked, and Sakura found it a reasonable request. She went for the gut.

When she faced Naruto, eyes shining with fury and fists clenched tightly, he grabbed his girlfriend’s shoulders and positioned her between them, “I can explain, I swear, Sakura-chan.”

“Can you?” she cracked her fingers, “Go on, I’m all ears.”

He swallowed thickly and exchanged glances with everyone on the table. Kiba smacked Naruto’s back and laughed, “Good luck, man,” while Lee shook his head in disgust.

“I mean – I mean Sakura-chan you really don’t have a great taste in men you know?” he began with all the wrong words he could possibly utter, “Okay, maybe teme was not a _bad_ choice, but he definitely wasn’t a great one, yeah?”

“Naruto.”

“And, uh, remember that guy that ended up dating you and another woman at the same time?” he gestured around wildly, “You cried for two days, so we had to do something dattebayo! We tied him up and Sai used his ink to –”

“Naruto,” she growled again, taking a step closer.

He held Hinata up his body, but didn’t shut up, “Your ex, Yuuta, what an asshole! He liked to tell his buddies everything about… y’ know and Yamato-taichou heard him so we invited him to spar with us one day…”

“And you send him to the hospital. We broke up after that and I didn’t even know…”

He nodded and smiled, proud of himself, “Yeah, exactly! Oh, and not to mention that bastard from Kumo. C or something. I actually liked him, ‘ttebayo, but then he’s all like trying to –”

“NARUTO!”

Before her fist connected to his head, Sakura felt herself being enclosed between strong arms, her back colliding with a muscled chest, before a pull twisted her stomach and the next thing she knew, she was standing outside the bar.

“Sorry for that,” Shisui chuckled as he let her free and passed her purse to Sakura. _When had he even…?_

“As much as I enjoy seeing a good beating, I think the other patrons and the owner wouldn’t,” he continued, taking a step back when her glare directed on him.

She took a second to breath some fresh air, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “I fucking hate them so much!”

“No, you don’t,” Shisui smiled and caught her upper arm, pulling her towards a bench a small distance away from the Rusty Shuriken.

“You don’t get it,” she sighed deeply, “I’ve been trying to figure out what the hell I did wrong in some of these… cases and it turns out, it was because the morons I call teammates meddled _every single time_.”

Shisui leaned back so his elbows rested on the crest rail of the bench and kept his gaze away, “They did overstep, no one can deny that, but to be honest,” he continued in almost a whisper, “they want what’s best for you. Besides, if any of these guys were truly serious about you, they wouldn’t have given up because of your teammates.”

“I know,” Sakura replied, all fight leaving her body to slump more on her side of the bench.

His snicker made her snap her head up. Shisui was still looking somewhere on their left when he said, “Your moods really change like a switch light. A few seconds ago, you were ready to slit their throats and now you’re resigned to your fate.”

“For the record,” she started matter-of-factly, “I wouldn’t slit their throats. It’s too much of a mess. I’d simply snap their necks.”

The Uchiha twisted around to meet her eyes and they both burst out laughing. He shook his head gently and Sakura watched almost enticed as the dark curls danced on his head and in front of his forehead.

Clearing her throat, the pinkette chose to focus on the bar’s entrance and tinted window, “My anger never lasts long when it’s directed to my friends. I tend to forgive them easily,” she shrugged after responding to his previous statement, truthfully.

“Just don’t let people walk all over you,” Shisui advised, but his smile had become gentler once more. “Do you want to go back inside?”

Sakura thought about it. She had planned to have a few drinks and maybe spent the night at someone’s place, but she wasn’t so sure anymore. Her irk might have shimmered down, but she was still pissed off and if she heard one more word from Naruto that night, Sakura feared that she really could end up beating him to a pulp.

Pouting, she smoothed down her outfit, “Yes,” she finally said. She hadn’t dressed up for nothing and the next day _was_ her day off. She’d enjoy her night, damnit!

He stood and offered his hand, pulling her to her feet, “And perhaps another drink?”

“Are you trying to get me drunk, Shisui?” she raised a challenging eyebrow.

“Yeah, right,” he snorted, “I don’t think I could, even if I tried my best.”

She smiled, for that was true. They walked back to the bar and Shisui held the door open for her, placing a warm hand on her back as he stirred her away from the table her friends were, to join his.

The two older kunoichi greeted her warmly and Hana pulled a chair for Sakura in order to sit beside her. The pinkette gave a nod towards Yukio-san and he did the same. She didn’t really know him well, aside from him being her patient, but he seemed nice, if a little reserved. Before Shisui occupied the seat next to hers, he called the waitress over for everyone to order.

Sakura didn’t fight him as he paid for her drink once again, but levelled him with a mock glare, “Next time drinks are on me.”

“Oh?” he gave her that infuriating smirk of his and dipped his head lower, “Are you asking me on a date?”

She didn’t know if she should laugh or allow the heat to color her face in mortification. Finally, she settled in rolling her eyes, “You’re not such a bad company, Shisui.”

And just because she couldn’t stand looking into his dark and gravitating gaze anymore, Sakura turned around to ask Izumi-san how the wedding preparations were coming along.

* * *

A few hours later Sakura found herself alone in the bar. Well, only Kiba had remained from their group of friends, but he had already found some company for the night, as had Sakura.

After her initial anger towards Naruto and her other teammates dissipated, Sakura had joined her friends again, just in time to see Itachi-san and Sasuke return in the bar. She hadn’t asked her Uchiha teammate what had happened, but she would definitely be grilling him for answers the following morning.

Kiba gave her a smirk and a mock salute as he stood to leave with a pretty redhead by his side. Sakura returned his goodbye with a wink of her own and focused back on Yuna, the barwoman she had met there last time and downed her shot, giving a low hiss at the delicious burn.

In a hazy blur of events, Sakura found herself in Yuna’s bed, trailing hot kisses on the woman’s chest, licking the pebbled nipples, while soft fingers kept rubbing circles on Sakura’s throbbing clitoris. She let go of Yuna’s nipple with a soft gasp when a finger penetrated her core and then another joined, and soon Sakura was a panting mess. Her hands traveled up and down the woman’s body, feeling the soft skin and curves; a privilege to civilians and dropped her own fingers low to return the favor. A whine left Yuna’s lips and she brought Sakura closer for a heated kiss, managing to straddle the kunoichi, while both their fingers worked relentlessly inside each other.

Usually, Sakura enjoyed being the bottom during sex, being dominated in a way that made her forget of the commanding role she had on her daily life. And yet there were times, that she wanted to be the one in charge, so she took control and in a swift – and dare she admit – graceful move that befitted her kunoichi training, she had Yuna pinned under her. She didn’t let their lips part, not even when the woman under her gasped in surprise with the sudden change of positions, instead she used the opportunity to suck on her tongue and leave a bruising kiss.

Finally pulling apart, Sakura licked her lips and dragged Yuna’s fingers away from her dripping cunt. Her green eyes never left warm brown as she slid down and latched her mouth on the woman’s center, her tongue flicking the sensitive bundle of nerves, before giving a long suck, as the body under her kept trashing on the pastel sheets. Moans and pleas of _“Don’t stop”_ and _“More,”_ echoed through the room and probably the rest of the apartment and Sakura gave a groan when hands fisted her pink tresses and pulled.

She didn’t let go, not even for a breath, until Yuna screamed so loud that her throat was surely to be sore in the morning and even then, she held her legs open, lapping her juices and trailed soft kisses on the inside of her pliant thighs. Then Sakura rose her body and moved with the ease of a feline until she was seated on Yuna’s face, hands grasping tightly on the headboard as the barwoman began to eat her out. Head falling back, the pinkette closed her eyes, losing herself in pure bliss.

Her partner for the night fell asleep after a drawn-out, languid kiss and Sakura, fully sated, picked her clothes and left quietly, molding herself with the shadows of the night.

When she returned home, she found a note by Sasuke waiting for her on her nightstand, telling her that he hoped she had fun and that he had wrote that in case he was gone by the time he left the morning. Apparently, he had a talk with his brother and decided to return to the Uchiha compound. Sakura dropped it back and changed into some comfortable shorts and a T-shirt. She let out a soft sigh and smiled at the prospect of an undisturbed bubble bath the following day.

Sasuke would still get drilled for information though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, hello, how are you?  
> As I mentioned on the last chapter, I know I haven't been updating this story much, but I finally have time to actually write more, so here you go :)
> 
> I put that scene with the girls there, because I think there's a lack in quality girl-time scenes in the Naruto fics I've read? Anyway, that's something I used to do with my closest friends when we all lived in the same city. Just hanging out, helping each other wax, or dye our hair, eat WAY too much, watch movies and listen to music and dance around with some cheap wine.
> 
> Also, I love to think that Team 7 is extra protective of each other, but especially of their only female teammate and they just meddle a lot in her life. That's also one of the reasons Sakura has a lot of one-night stands.
> 
> I'd like to say, that Shisui and Sakura are definitely drawn to each other, but they are idiots. Anyway, we already knew that Shisui was attracted to Sakura - even if he just enjoys to tease the hell out of her, but now Sakura is also beginning to see Shisui in a different light, other than Sasuke's older cousin and Konoha's perpetual womanizer.  
> Oh and yes, Sakura doesn't go home with him... it will happen, but not just yet. As I said, idiots ;)
> 
> I'll do my best to upload the next chapter soon❤ Sorry about any mistakes, feel free to point them out so I can fix them asap!


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